End on a High Note
by FlowerOwl
Summary: A sudden decision to try out for the school musical might end up teaching boarding school student Zelda Nohansen more than she had expected. However, as the day of the show grows nearer, Zelda's expectations for herself grows bigger and more overwhelming as well, and as she comes to a realisation about herself, it might all prove to be too much for her.
1. Chapter 1

Despite what could easily be classified as an excessive use of glitter and the rather large text size, it was Midna's yelp of excitement coupled with a small jump that made Zelda aware that there even was a new poster on the noticeboard at all. Had it not been for the sudden sound, she would probably just have walked right past it, only knowing that there was anything going on when she would notice how her friends stayed behind. But Midna's loud exclamation of 'look!' was enough to make her stop walking immediately and look over at Midna, who was pointing at the noticeboard hanging on the wall between the door leading to the entrance hall and the kitchen.

At first, she couldn't make out exactly what the notice said as a rather large crowd of students were standing between her and the poster, preventing her from stepping closer, but that changed seconds later, as Midna simply grabbed her hand and began to push her way through the crowd, making sure that Zelda was close to her, and occasionally saying sorry when she would bump directly into someone.

"Look!" Midna repeated, pointing up at the poster again, and this time, Zelda could see more than just the light being reflected in the glitter that had seemingly been poured all over the paper.

"So they have chosen which musical to perform this year, haven't they?" Zelda observed after glancing at the heading. "Or rather, they have chosen to announce what they have chosen, 'musical announced', I mean?"

"That's exactly what they have," Midna said, bouncing slightly, unable to contain her joy, "and guess what it is, it's Skyward!"

"Skyward?" Anju, who had just then managed to make her way through the crowd with Cremia following right behind her, repeated. "That's quite ambitious isn't it?"

But Midna just made a dismissive gesture, clearly not all that worried about the possibility of their school having aimed too high when they had chosen the musical. "Maybe, but it will be a nice challenge. And they have done it a few years ago, so why wouldn't they try to do it again? If anything, it will only mean that, should we get in, we might have to spend more time at rehearsals, and I'm not going to get angry over that."

Zelda, meanwhile, had turned back to look at the noticeboard, only listening to her friends' conversation with half an ear. As longs as she didn't spend too much time inspecting the overly glittery heading of the announcement and wondering if the amount of glitter had really been necessary, the idea of auditioning and even getting to be a part of the musical sounded like something she might enjoy. Regular and scheduled rehearsals, auditions so that she would not risk getting in only to embarrass herself in front of everyone by not being able to sing at all—even if there was the risk of doing just that while auditioning for the musical—and someone who had actually planned how and when they should learn the different scenes. And perhaps the most important thing, or at least the thing that had made her not immediately write off the musical as being an event that was too unorganised for her, the rest of the text that had been printed onto the poster was readable, set up in neat lines instead of being all over the piece of paper.

Really, why had no one done that during her first two years? If they had, Zelda might have done the same as her friends and tried out for the musical during her first year as well.

Cremia suddenly taking a step to the side to avoid being hit by an overexcited first-year student who was gesturing wildly towards the poster and almost walking into Zelda in the process was what made Zelda tune back in to the conversation that was taking place right in front of her.

"Midna, I think that our teachers might actually care a bit, given that you got _so_ close," Cremia held up her thumb and index finger, "to missing the deadline for that Hylian essay."

The mention of the dreaded essay made Zelda tear her gaze away from the poster to instead smile at Midna. "Oh, yeah I remember that one," Zelda said, playfully elbowing Midna, "wasn't that the one where we spent most of a night trying to piece together something that was coherent enough so that you could turn it in? Or was that another essay?"

"No, that was indeed the one, and it was only _one_ time. Besides, I have grown and matured as a person since then, I know that I can manage it all this year," Midna said, already laughing a bit at her own words.

"Sure," Cremia teased, voice dripping with sarcasm, making Midna stick out her tongue at her.

Shooting one last look over at the poster, Zelda knew that she had made her decision. Pushing her shoulders back just a bit, she turned towards Midna and tried to make her tone light and joking. "I really hope that you're right, because I want to try out for the musical too. So I might not have the time to help you guys with your assignments this time."

They were all silent for a moment. The voices around them, students whispering, pointing over at the noticeboard, talking about musicals, or just generally chit-chatting about life, seemed to become amplified.

Then Midna threw her arm around her, pulling her in for a tight hug. "I knew it, I knew you would join us sooner or later!" she let go of Zelda, still beaming at her. "Zel, this is amazing, you are going to love it!"

Holding up her hands in front of her, Zelda let out a tiny giggle. "Whoa, I haven't even gone to the audition yet, we don't know if any of us are even going to make it."

But Midna, confident as ever, just shook her head. "No, I will make absolutely sure that you get in—"

"We all will," Anju cut in, placing her right arm around Cremia's waist, making Cremia nod.

"Okay, we will _all_ help you get in," Midna said, keeping her voice monotone as she stifled a laugh, before looking back over at Zelda, "but first thing first, have you heard the soundtrack of the musical before?"

Zelda shook her head. "No, I haven't, or at least I don't remember any of it." Perhaps her mum had made her hear it once or twice—actually, Zelda was quite sure that she had—but the word Skyward didn't mean anything to her, wasn't connected to any memory or any sounds. "I should probably try to do that before deciding anything, shouldn't I?"

"Well, I mean, probably," Anju said with a little shrug, "I know that you will love it, but it can't hurt for you to listen to the songs."

"Tell you what, why don't you borrow my phone for the day," Midna said, already digging around in her backpack for her mobile phone, "I have the original cast album on there. Then, you can hear it during breaks and I can help you pick a song to sing for the audition after school. That way, there will be plenty of time for you to practice before the audition," Midna paused to look back up at the poster before continuing, "yeah, the auditions takes place this Friday, so you will have time to learn the song. Not a lot of time, but enough for you to get the gist of it. How about that?"

Zelda tried to keep a pleasant expression even if the thought of going to an audition was beginning to sound more and more horrifying as the chance of her actually going grew each second.

"What about Anju and me?" Cremia asked, only for Anju to look at her, an expression of mock-sadness on her face, making Cremia immediately add. "Oh, the date, I had forgotten about that for a moment. Sorry, Anju."

"It's fine, I had almost forgotten about it as well."

"Yeah, the date," Midna deadpanned, "the event I assumed you two lovebirds would be more interested in than listening to Zelda and me while we discuss musicals. So what do you say, Zelda, should we check out which songs would be good for you later?"

She looked back at Zelda, eyes twinkling and lips curled up in a smile that—as it always was when it came to Midna and musicals—seemed genuinely delighted. Despite the tight knot forming in her stomach and the growing feeling that going to the audition wouldn't lead to anything but her ending up making a fool of herself, Zelda could not say no, she never could, not when Midna shot her that kind of smile.

So instead, she tried to mirror Midna's enthusiasm at the prospect of actually beginning to prepare for the audition, hoping that her smile looked at least somewhat real. It had to be, after all, for even despite her nervousness, Zelda couldn't help but feel a little bit happy about how her friends had volunteered to help her.

"Yes, I would love that."

That afternoon, the first thing Zelda did when she returned to her dorm, even before doing her homework, was to pick up her phone and call her hum. She was fairly sure that Impa would love to hear that she was thinking about auditioning for the school musical, and when her mum got excited, she had a habit of talking about it for what could sometimes seem like hours on end. So calling her immediately seemed like the best idea, or at least it was the one least likely to end up lasting the entire night.

The phone barely got to let out two beeps before her mum answered it, her voice sounding slightly scratchy for a couple of seconds.

"Zelda, Sweetie, how was your day?"

She talked loudly causing Zelda, who had not thought to check the volume on her phone before calling, to almost drop her phone. But she managed to catch it before it hit the floor, holding it a bit tighter as she pressed it against her ear again to answer.

"It was fine, we did not get too much homework."

Impa chuckled slightly. "Ah, yes, homework. Trust me, when you get my age, you will long for the days where the biggest problem you could possibly face was the amount of homework that the teachers would assign."

"So you say." Zelda said with a small smile, adding a little laugh when she remembered that there was no way for her mum to see that she was smiling. "But actually, there was something else I wanted to talk with you about."

"Yeah?" Impa asked. "Oh, wait a minute, Honey." Zelda could hear how Impa moved the phone away from her ear before telling Tetra that she would be there in a moment. When her mum returned to the conversation, she sounded just a bit more hectic, but it was enough to make it obvious to Zelda as Impa continued. "So, what were you about to tell me?"

Zelda found herself absentmindedly running her hand through the strand of hair that fell over her shoulder as she tried to figure out how to word the news. But in the end, she couldn't figure out a way that would not involve her running the risk of making her mum drop everything to drive over to stay for the next few months just so that she could be a part of it all. So instead, Zelda settled for simply telling the truth. "Just that I was thinking about going to the auditions for the musical this year."

Impa didn't let out a joyful yell like Midna had done upon seeing the poster, but her voice was a bit higher, a bit louder, and a bit warmer when she began to speak again. "Oh, you have to do that, you simply have to! I promise you that it will be the best experience of your life, no matter what quality the show ends up being. Besides, this is your last chance to do something like this—next year you might be off to university, and then who knows if you will ever get the chance again. What did your friends say about it? I'm sure Midna was overjoyed; she really struck me as someone who loves musical. Zelda, I'm telling you the months where I would go to rehearsal after school were the happiest times of my life—"

"I know, mum," Zelda cut in, already sensing that Impa was about to tell her everything about her own experiences with being in a school musical, "musicals are amazing. And you're right about Midna; she had an even more intense reaction than you did when she found out about the musical."

"Even more intense than me? I doubt it!" Impa said, all traces of her trying to hurry the conversation so that she could go and help Tetra with her problems long gone.

"You are giving her a run for her money, I'll give you that, but Midna is definitely more intense than you are when she is excited about something. Not even the fact that you made me take singing lessons when I was younger is enough to beat the fact that she was able to push through a crowd of over-excited first-year students just to get to the poster quicker than she would otherwise have been able to."

"Perhaps. But tell Midna that the fight isn't over yet."

Right then, Zelda heard footsteps outside the door, and moments later, the door swung open, allowing both the voices and general noises from the hallway outside as well as Midna to come into the room. From the way that she had stepped in—a spring in her pace, wide grin, and with her eyes twinkling—it was clear that she had something to say. However, when she saw Zelda standing there with her mobile phone, her expression quickly turned unsure as she pointed towards the door, miming the words 'should I leave?'

Shaking her head, Zelda motioned for her to close the door behind her. "No, no, please stay, it'll only take a moment."

"What will only take a moment?" her mum asked, her voice turning a bit distant as she once again paused to tell Zelda's sister that she would be there in a moment.

"No, it's just that Midna stepped into the room, mum," Zelda hurried to explain, already stepping a bit closer to Midna, "here, I'll hand her the phone now."

Midna accepted the phone, immediately pressing it against her ear. "Hello, Impa."

The sound of her mum's voice was muffled, but Zelda could still easily hear how Impa had yelled Midna's name in response. If Midna's little jump of surprise and the small smile that she shot Zelda was anything to go by, the sudden sound had surprised her just as much as it had surprised Zelda. At least Midna had not been about to drop her phone, Zelda could give her that. It would seem that Midna was a bit more coordinated than her.

"Yeah, a musical… hmm, Skyward… no, we don't know which one yet," Zelda heard Midna say.

Although she could not hear her mum's half of the conversation, she was fairly sure that Impa was telling Midna to let her know everything there was to know about the musical. She couldn't help but smile. Not even Midna would ever be able to answer every one of her mum's questions.

"Actually, I was just about to help Zelda pick which song she will sing at the audition," Midna said, nodding along to something Impa had said, "yeah, I know, it was about time that Zelda finally let us hear her voice, I'm sure she will be the best!" Midna winked at Zelda and she felt her cheeks grow warmer. Hopefully, Midna would not have way too high expectations for her; she really didn't want to let everyone down like that. But Midna didn't seem to even consider that, already rambling along. "Yeah, she hasn't really sung anything while at school—at least not while anyone has been around to hear her—but now it seemed that we have finally managed to convince her." There was a short pause before Midna knitted her brows and let out a short laugh. "No, I am sure that Anju, Cremia, and I deserve most of the credit for that, we are after all the ones who have spent the last two years slowly convincing her to join us in throwing away our social lives for two months each year to get a chance to be part of the musical, but you just keep telling yourself that this is your work… yes, of course I will help her, what kind of friend do you take me for? Yeah, bye, Impa." Midna pressed the button to end the call and handed the phone back to Zelda. "Seems like your mum really cares about you getting into the musical, doesn't she?"

Giving her a brief nod, Zelda showed the phone back into the pocket of her skirt. "You could say that and it would still somehow manage to be an understatement."

"Well, knowing that and with me having just told her that I am going to help you, I really think we should start to discuss what song you'll sing at your audition. I don't think your mum will ever stop holding it against me, if you end up not auditioning for a role."

Midna said it with a smile and with an air of not really meaning it, but Zelda still felt something cold settle in her stomach. People really wanted her to go to that audition, Midna, Anju, Cremia, and her mum had all told her that they believed in her. Deep down, Zelda was sure that she was going to mess it up. Either it would turn out that she simply did not have the skills it would take, or she would get nervous at the wrong time. Really, there were a million things that could go wrong, all of them having the consequence that she would ruin her chances and let everyone down.

"Hey, Zelda!" Midna said, snapping her fingers close to Zelda's face, the sudden movement making Zelda blink and redirect her focus towards Midna. "Don't worry about all of that. Right now, we just have to figure out what song you can sing really well. Do you know your voice type?"

She cleared her throat, trying to think of what she had learnt during those singing lessons. "Uh, soprano, I think, but I am not sure."

"That's fine, knowing you, it's probably right, so we will just assume that you are a soprano. Can I borrow your computer for a moment?"

"Of course."

Given the relatively small size of the room, they were already practically standing next to Zelda's desk, so Zelda simply reached down to grab her backpack, lifting the entire thing up on the table before opening it and taking out her computer, placing it on the desk on top of a few pieces of paper while Midna grabbed Anju's desk chair, dragging it over so that she could sit down next to Zelda.

"Great, thank you. See, I had this song in mind when you asked me, but I needed to be sure that it was not way off, you know, since I haven't actually heard you sing that much," Midna said, having already opened the laptop and typed in the password. Just a few clicks later, Zelda found herself looking at a video of a girl only a little older than herself and Midna. At first, Zelda couldn't help but stare at the costume that the girl was wearing. The dress had once been white, she could see that much, but now it had various stains, stains that didn't exactly look like they had been added on purpose, the hem and sleeves of the dress were fraying, and to top it all off, the girl was wearing a blonde wig that was pushed so far back that she could still see the girl's red hear peek out in front.

And then the girl started singing, making Zelda forget everything she had had to say about the costume.

The song was beautiful, calming and yet strong at the same time. Zelda couldn't make out exactly what the girl was singing, the quality of the video was far too poor for that, but she did know that the music was amazing. But it wasn't only the music, the girl who was singing also managed to make even the parts that Zelda knew were technically demanding sound so easy, like everyone could sing the song as perfectly as the girl did.

"Beautiful, right?" Midna said, and Zelda looked over to find that Midna had somehow managed to tear her gaze away from the girl earlier than herself to instead look at Zelda. "It's the song Ballad of the Goddess from Skyward."

Zelda nodded even though her only knowledge of both the song as well as the musical came from what little she had had time to listen to in between classes. But if there was one thing she knew, it was that Ballad of the Goddess was not exactly song that was friendly to beginners. "Do you really think I can sing that? Shouldn't we pick something that's a little easier for me to do?"

Midna seemed to actually consider it, looking back and forth between the computer screen and Zelda for a moment, and the knowledge that Midna did actually think about her limits made Zelda feel a bit more relieved. Finally, Midna answered her. "Well, you are right that it's a pretty difficult song, but I think you can do it. According to your mum, you were actually quite good when you were younger and from what Anju told me, you are still that good, or at least you are when you sing in the shower."

"Wait, how much have you talked with my mum about my voice and what was that about Anju having heard me singing in the shower?"

"It's not really your mum and I talking about your voice, it's more your mum telling me about you nearly every time I mention the musical. She's really happy that you have decided to audition, you know. As for Anju having heard you singing, I think that you overestimate how soundproof the walls in here are." Midna finished it all off by reaching over to push Zelda slightly. Zelda immediately retaliated by shoving Midna as well.

"Okay, so now that I know that apparently I did not have as much privacy as I thought, are you still sure that I can sing that song?" Zelda pointed at the computer, the screen still showing the now paused video of the girl who had started the entire discussion in the first place.

"Positive. Besides, even if you don't, I know that Kass and Thelma have this entire principle about not turning people away just because they aren't the best singers. As long as people are willing to show up and improve themselves, they are allowed to be in the musical." Midna leant in, lowering her voice into a stage-whisper. "But maybe don't tell the first-year students that. Kass likes to think that people don't know it, so we try to not tell everyone."

In almost any other situation, Zelda would not have appreciated being told that she could get in because the people in charge of the musical didn't want to tell anyone that the lacked the talent, but right then, it was exactly what she needed to hear, someone telling her that at least the world would not end if she messed up the song.

"Are you sure it's okay to pick a song from the musical they have chosen?"

"Yes, of course," Midna said, nodding to emphasise her point, "you just need to pick something that showcases your skills as a singer."

"Alright, then I'll try that one."

"Great!" Midna said, having already pressed the button to restart the song.

Had it not been for the fact that Zelda had the texts Midna had sent to her in the middle of the night as proof that the other girl had been up until nearly half past eleven, she would not have believed it. As Midna came running into the dining hall, only barely managing to not collide with a little group of second-year students who in turn spun around to glare after her, she looked radiant, practically shinning.

Next to Zelda, Anju moved over slightly to make room for Midna between herself and Zelda. Her spoon clattered against the bowl as she slid her bowl of porridge as well as her apple over the table to continue eating, but the slight noise was nothing compared to how Midna practically jumped over a chair that had been in her way, landing right next to Zelda and somehow managing to not knock over any glasses despite gesturing wildly.

"Guess what!" she exclaimed loudly enough for Link who was sitting a few tables away from them to turn around and smile at her. Zelda noticed how Midna took the time to return the smile before turning back towards her. "Guess what just happened on my way over here!"

"Did you—" Anju began, putting down her spoon. But she didn't even get to actually make a guess as Midna interrupted her with a little wave.

"I ran into Thelma—she's the acting director for the musical, so she and Kass are the ones who will decide who will play which roles in the musical, Zelda," she added, seeing the confused look on Zelda's face.

"Oh," Zelda mumbled. Now, after Midna had told her, she did vaguely remember seeing their names on the poster the day before. But since she wasn't in the band and hadn't picked drama as an optional subject, she hadn't really payed much attention to it.

Meanwhile, Midna continued, talking a mile a minute, "Yeah, so anyway, I asked him if anyone could try out for the part of the Hero. _Anyone_ ," she added, sending all three of them meaningful glances.

Zelda was not really sure what it was supposed to mean, but it seemed that both Anju and Cremia did as they both groaned, Cremia even adding a little 'oh no' and placing her piece of toast back down on her plate.

Looking back and forth between Anju, Cremia, and Midna, Zelda tried to not look confused, attempting to figure out what had just happened. Asking who could try out was a reasonable question, wasn't it?

After a couple of moments, Zelda had to admit that she had no idea what that had all been about, so she looked back over at Anju. "But isn't that a normal question? I mean, shouldn't we get a chance to know if we can even try out for the different roles before we begin to hope for anything?"

Midna shot her a brilliant smile, pointing at her before looking over at Anju and Cremia. "See, she gets it!"

But Cremia just shook her head. "No, she doesn't know the full story." she leant in over the table to be able to look over at Zelda before continuing. "You see, that would have been a completely harmless question if it had been anyone but Midna who had sked it."

"Hey," Midna exclaimed, "that's not fair!" but even she couldn't hide how she was laughing, though she tried to hide it by covering her mouth with her hand.

Anju, too, giggled, using her spoon to point at Midna. "Oh, you know it's fair. Tell her, Cremia!"

"You see, last year they set up _Wicked_ , you know the one about Elphaba and Oz and all that, right?"

Zelda nodded, glancing over at Midna who had begun to shake with barely suppressed laughter. "Yeah?"

"Well, so what happened was that Midna and the two girls who played Elphaba and Glinda—"

"Who?"

"Irene and Seres. I don't think you know them, and either way, they were third-year students that year so they don't go here anymore. But they had gotten the roles of Elphaba and Glinda and together with Midna, they had this joke with Thelma about how it was not right that Elphaba had not ended up with Glinda at the end of the musical." Cremia shot Midna a look. "I have to give it to you though, in the end, you did almost manage to make Thelma genuinely agree with you."

Midna placed a hand on her chest, looking indignant. "I did manage to convince her. She actually told me that had it not been for how we weren't allowed to make any major changes to the story, she would have agreed with me!"

Cremia just rolled her eyes. "Sure. But, anyway, Zelda, that's why I'm actually quite impressed that Thelma didn't try to escape before Midna here got the chances to talk with her about any of the roles."

Looking back and forth between Midna and Cremia, Zelda took a sip of her water. Even if she had never heard that particular story before, it certainly did sound a lot like something Midna would do. After all, Midna had been the one to write an essay about how school should be viewed as something that took as much effort as a fulltime job and hand it in to their social subjects teacher after he had told them to enjoy their time in school since it was a lot easier and required less time than having a job.

"She stayed there to let me ask her about the roles because she agrees with me, at least on some level." when they all looked over at Midna, doubtful expressions on their faces, she glanced up towards the roof while sighing dramatically. "Goddesses… I even have proof. She said, and I quote, 'are you thinking about trying out for the role of the Hero, Midna?'"

Zelda, attempting to both continue drinking her glass of water while commenting on Midna's story, managed exactly none if that and instead just choked on the water. She even had to place her glass back on the table as she began to cough. As the other looked at her with worry in their eyes, she held up a hand, managing to whisper that she was okay through the tears that filled her eyes as she tried to cough up the water.

"Well, are you?" Anju asked, while Midna patted Zelda on the back.

"Yes, of course. And when I told her that and that anyone should be able to play the Hero since they never specified the gender in the ancient legends and we always have way more girls than boys try out for the musical, she just nodded and said that she agrees and looks forward to seeing me at the audition."

Cremia smirked at her. "Sounds to me like she just didn't want you to write an essay about that subject as well."

Sticking out her tongue, Midna pointed at her. "No, it means that girls can also become the Hero." to finish it off, she reached over to grab Cremia's piece of toast and took a huge bite out of it, not stopping patting Zelda on the back for even a moment.

Between Cremia and Midna, Anju snickered to herself before pushing her apple over towards her girlfriend. Cremia looked like she was about to say something, but she seemed to decide against it, settling for simply eating the apple instead.

Midna nodded at Cremia and placed the half eaten piece of toast in front of her on the table before returning her attention to Zelda. "You okay, Zel?"

Finally, Zelda managed to cough up the water. After taking a couple of deep breaths and wiping her eyes with her sleeve, she let out a shaky laugh. "Yeah."

"Good." there was a soft look in Midna's eyes that Zelda was not used to seeing often. Then, Midna's usual snarky demeanour was back as she got up from the table, turning back to look down at Zelda, Anju, and Cremia. "We should probably get to class, shouldn't we? I don't want another teacher telling me how close I am to getting a detention."

Choosing to just abandon the last half of her sandwich, Zelda got up immediately. Anju and Cremia, however, didn't follow her.

When Zelda looked over at them, Anju just waved her hand. "We will be with you in a moment, just leave without us."

Normally, Zelda might have tried to convince them to join her and Midna, but she couldn't help but feel almost a little happy as Midna took her hand and they began to make their way through the dining hall and towards classroom one-zero-eight for their first class of the day.

"Oh Goddesses, that sounded horrible!" Zelda laughed as she messed up on the same high note for the third time.

Midna, perched on her desk, holding her phone in her hand, just smiled at her. "Well, you are still making improvements. But do you want to start over?"

"Sure. Although I doubt I can ever hit the high c."

"Be positive," Midna said, as she restarted the song, "you will hit it someday."

Before Zelda had the change to say anything, the song began again. Sure that Midna had planned that, Zelda used the few seconds of instrumentals that served to introduce the goddess in the show to stick out her tongue at Midna, the childish gesture making the other girl smile. Then the song began and Zelda found herself being unable to focus on anything but it.

That was perhaps one of the things she liked the most about the song. It was slow and melodic, the lyrics both beautiful and simple, making it so that she didn't have to think about remembering them, only having to focus on hitting the various high notes that were scattered throughout the song, culminating in a final high c at the end. Of course, that was not exactly easy for her, but at least she didn't also have to worry too much about mangling the lyrics.

The song seemed to progress much quicker than it usually did and before long, Zelda knew that there were only a couple of moments until the part where she had messed up so much. However, as she looked over towards her friend, she saw how Midna gave her a slight thumbs up, smiling at her. She could do it.

And she did. Granted, her she could hear how her voice was shaking a bit too much, but she did manage to hit all the notes, following along as the song ended on a slightly lower note that was a bit easier to hit properly.

"Yeah, that's it!" Midna exclaimed the moment the song ended, pushing herself of the desk to instead give Zelda a hug. "Just sing it like that at the audition, and they will have to admit that you are good."

Suddenly overly aware of the fact that the praise had made her face grow warmer, Zelda was grateful that Midna could not see it, not while she was pulling Zelda in towards her. "Are you really sure?"

"Totally. Look, when Anju and Cremia get back, you _have_ to sing it for them as well, Anju loves this song." taking a step back, Midna chuckled slightly. "Although it might take a while; when I went to ask if they wanted to come over and rehearse with us, they barely heard me as they were so busy with staring into each other's eyes."

Zelda averted her gaze and hoped that her cheeks were not as pink as it felt like they were. "You're probably right. Guess I'll just have to trust that you would tell me if I sounded horrible," she mumbled, looking at the wooden floor.

"Trust me, I would," Midna said, reaching out to take her hand and squeeze it tightly, "I want you to be a part of this musical."

Not knowing how to react to that, Zelda simply nodded, a sense of dread settling in her stomach. There was no need for her to glance over at the calendar to know that the moment where she would have to sing in front of someone who could not be considered either a close friend or family was growing nearer.

There was only one day left until the first part of the auditions.


	2. Chapter 2

The first two classes felt like they lasted practically no time. Of course, Zelda also used most of the time trying to fight the urge to simply get up and leave, run back to her dorm, and refuse to come out until the entire musical was over, something that didn't exactly leave her with a lot of time to listen to what her teachers were telling her.

But sometime about halfway through the lesson, it felt like time stopped moving and Zelda was able to simply focus on the quadratic formula rather than her own nerves. The sense of almost complete calmness was accompanied by a feeling of her entire body slowing down as well, allowing her a moment of clarity. She was here and was still several minutes of class left until she would have to head over to the audition. However, no amount of wishful thinking and attempts to make herself relax would be enough to completely avoid it, the time for the auditions would arrive sooner or later, and with the teacher even letting them go a few minutes early, it seemed that the universe was adamant in its intention make it sooner even if Zelda would have preferred to not have to worry about it at all.

So when she followed Midna, Anju, and Cremia out of the classroom and they turned left to head to the drama room where the auditions would be held rather than right to go to the dining hall, she had a short moment of not knowing where they were going before it all came back to her. The auditions. And just like that, her stomach began to hurt once again.

But at least her friends knew where they were going, and they arrived on time rather than being late. It should have made Zelda less nervous to know that she had not managed to give a bad impression before the audition would even start, but it only did the opposite as the door to the classroom was locked, making them have to wait outside in the hallway.

While Midna simply dumped her backpack down on the floor to lean up against the wall next to the drama room and Anju and Cremia went over to the window, jumping up to sit on the windowsill, whispering together, Zelda couldn't do anything but stand there in the middle of the hallway, staring at the door in front of her, as if she could make Thelma and Kass appear to let them in quicker if she only thought about it for enough time.

They stood there for what to Zelda felt like an eternity but was probably only half a minute, the only sounds being Anju and Cremia's whispering and Midna humming a song under her breath, before the other students wanting to try out for the musical began to arrive as well. As they all crowded around the door to the drama room, Zelda had to move aside to avoid anyone accidentally bumping into her, or her inadvertently hitting someone with her backpack, should she decide to turn around. So she went over to stand next to Midna. Not leaning up against the wall like her—Zelda's backpack prevented her from doing that—but she did stand close enough to her to notice how Midna looked up when the door to the classroom on the other side of the hallway opened, smiling to herself for a moment before waving at someone in the crowd of people trying to leave the room.

"Hey, Link!" Midna called and now Zelda could see how Link was, in fact, in the crowd, though he had been partially out of sight due to standing behind a little group of girls chatting to each other.

Link looked up, returning Midna's smile. "How's it going?" he asked, walking over to join them.

"Everything's fine, just waiting for Thelma and Kass to let us into the audition room."

"How long have you been waiting already?"

"Not that long," Midna said, shaking her head, the movement making her ponytail almost hit Zelda in the face, "barely a couple of minutes. Robbie let us go a few minutes earlier than normal,"

"Well, they will probably begin the auditions in just a few moments; they have to if they want to get it all over with today." Link said, pausing to look around. Despite most of the students who had had classes in the surrounding rooms and who were not interested in trying out for the musical having already left the hallway, there were still plenty of people waiting there. "I don't think there were so many people turning up for the auditions last year."

"I know, there are a lot of new faces. Zelda here," Midna slung her arm around Zelda's shoulders, pulling her just a little bit closer, "is trying out for the first time as well."

"Really?" Link asked, shooting Zelda a quizzical look before smiling. "Well, best of luck then!"

Just as Zelda was about to respond with a 'likewise', Midna cut in, pointing at Link. "Oh, unlike you she won't need luck to get in!"

A bit perplexed by the conversation taking place right in front of her, Zelda opened her mouth to apologize to Link, but he simply laughed Midna's words right off. "Okay then, I _don't_ wish you the best of luck—I wish you the best of talent. Better?" he asked, looking back over at Midna.

"Yes."

Before any of them got a chance to add anything, the door to the drama room went up, Thelma stepping out into the hallway. "Sorry about the delay," she said, quickly glancing out over the crowd in front of her, "we're ready now, so if the people who want to try out for the role of the goddess Hylia would please come into the room, then we can get started now."

"That's you," Midna whispered into Zelda's ear, "get in there and let them hear how amazing you are."

Zelda didn't feel amazing as all as she followed a couple of other girls into the room. She just felt nervous and sweaty, trying to not look at Kass and Thelma while they instructed for them to stand in a row on the little raised stage located towards the back of the classroom and face the table that had been set up in front of it. Kass was already sitting there, looking down at a few pages of paper in front of him. Next to him, Zelda spotted a notebook as well as a cup filled with pencils and felt her heart speed up just a little bit more. They would be taking notes about their singing abilities. Trying to think positive thoughts, Zelda noted that at least she was standing closest to the window, and wasn't standing in between two girls. Even if the scenery did not do much to calm her frantic heart, she did at least not have to attempt to ignore being practically surrounded as well.

"Okay," Thelma said, walking over to sit on the chair next to Kass, "we're just going to listen to you one at a time, starting from this end," she pointed at the girl standing closest to the door and Zelda mentally let out a sigh of relief. She had chosen the right spot, making her the last one who would have to sing and would have time to listen to the others beforehand, "and then continue through the line. Is that okay?"

Nobody said anything for a while, all of them looking everywhere but over at the table where Kass and Thelma were sitting. Just before it got awkward the girl next to Zelda spoke up.

"Yes, it's okay with us."

Zelda looked over at her, having a feeling that she had seen the girl's bright red hair before.

"Good, Malon," Thelma smiled, making a slight pause, during which Zelda tried to store the name in her memory. Malon. At all seemed less scary when she knew who she was singing with, "and I assume that the rest of you agree?"

They all nodded, mumbling something that could get interpreted as a vague 'yes'. At least that was what Thelma seemed to see it as, because she clapped her hands before opening the notebook in front of her and picking up a pencil from the cup between herself and Kass. "Then you can begin," she said, pointing at the girl standing in the opposite end of the line from Zelda with her pencil.

The girl begun to sing, a bit slow and shaky at first, but she gradually began to sound steadier, her voice not trembling as much anymore. Zelda didn't know much about the song other than the melody, but since it was one Impa would often hum along to, she assumed that it was from some musical. It did certainly sound beautiful and the few times that the girl missed a note, she just smiled and continued on.

The audition progressed, Zelda beginning to see a pattern to it with each one of them growing increasingly confident during their song. For a while, Zelda allowed herself to relax and just enjoy the songs. But of course, it didn't take long before the girl standing next to her was about to finish her song, making it Zelda's turn.

"Amazing," Kass commented as girl's song ended, scribbling something onto the notebook in front of him, before looking back up, "then it's your turn, Zelda."

Hoping that it would help calm her nerves, Zelda glanced out of the windows, taking in the sight of the blue sky. She could do this.

Her voice sounded awkward and way too loud in the otherwise silent room, but she tried to ignore that, tried to not look at the girls next to her, instead focusing on hitting the high notes. And by some miracle, she actually hit them all, her voice growing stronger and more confident as she realised that she had actually managed to not mess up the hardest part of the song. Finishing the song, Zelda could almost begin to understand why Midna had been so excited about the auditions. She had done it, and now that it was over, it did not seem so frightening anymore.

At the table, Thelma leant over, whispering something to Kass before looking back at the girls in front of her. "That's was really good, you were all amazing." next to her, Zelda saw Malon stand up a little taller, beaming with joy as Thelma glanced down at her notes. "Since the casting based on your acting abilities, you will all get called back for the acting audition Sunday, but I want you to know that even if that hadn't been the case, we would still have asked all of you to return; you did really well today."

"Thank you," Malon said, once again speaking on behalf of all of them.

Thelma nodded at her, getting up from her chair to walk over to open the door. "Thank you for choosing to use your lunch break to audition. But since we are a bit behind, I have to ask you to leave now so that we can continue on with the auditions." she shot them an remorseful look, holding the door open as they all made their way over to the door, walking back out into the hallway.

"Okay, can we get everyone who wants to audition for the role of the Hero in here?" Thelma called out, creating a bit of a commotion as a few boys and couple of girls all tried to push past Zelda and the others in an attempt to get into the audition room as the first.

Trying to make her way around the people around her, Zelda didn't even notice Midna walking over to her before she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Midna smile down at her.

"How did it go?" Midna asked.

"I think it went okay," Zelda said, returning the smile, for once in the last couple of days since the date for the audition had been announced not having to keep the feeling of uncertainness from turning it into a frown.

"I'm glad to hear that," Midna said. And with that, she turned around and followed Thelma into the drama room. The door closed behind her, most of the chatter and whispering in the hallway growing quieter, making it more bearable.

Looking over the door one last time, Zelda smiled to herself and went over to join Anju and Cremia on the windowsill.

The rest of the day passed in a happy blur. Midna, Anju, and Cremia returned from the drama room, all with a delighted attitude, telling Zelda about how Thelma had commended them for their voices. Normally, Zelda would perhaps have begun to worry about what that meant for her. After all, if Thelma had decided to tell everyone how amazing they were, then she would have had to say it to everyone even if she didn't really mean it. But Midna had begun to loudly sing Hero Chosen by the Gods, the duet between the Hero and Hylia, insisting that Zelda should join her, and somewhere in between singing with Midna and laughing at the increasingly absurd facial expressions Midna would make, Zelda stopped thinking about the auditions.

But as soon as she returned to her dorm after dinner, the worries returned tenfold.

Trying to find something to distract her brain with, Zelda pulled out a worksheet from her bag and went to her desk to try to at least use some of the tension building up in her stomach to get some work done. But no matter how hard she tried to focus on the equations in front of her, her mind kept coming back to the musical and the audition, the digits on the paper turning into rows and rows of people, all waiting to hear her sing and miss a note. No matter how much Zelda tried to make the numbers stay numbers, they just kept reminding her about the songs, about everything. It didn't even make sense; she _wanted_ to be a part of the musical, if anything she should fear being told that she wasn't good enough, shouldn't she? After all, she wanted to do it, from all the stories she had heard from Midna as well as Anju and Cremia, the musical was the best part of school, so why couldn't Zelda just be happy that the auditions had gone well?

With a sigh, Zelda gave up on her homework and pushed the piece of paper away from her. It was just not doing the trick for her, trying to not think about musicals. It felt a bit like admitting defeat, but nevertheless, Zelda grabbed her laptop. Moments later, she had typed two words into the search field: Skyward musical, the results filling the screen.

Since she didn't exactly know much about musicals, Zelda just picked a link at random, pressing it and being led to some newspaper's review of a small theatre company's production of Skyward. She skimmed the article, noting how the journalist kept coming back to how well the actress playing Hylia had been able to act, especially during the Hero's death scene at the end of the show. There was nothing about _why_ her acting had been so amazing, and though Zelda tried not to, she couldn't help but be a bit annoyed. Would it really have been that hard to include some concrete examples as to why the journalist had liked the show? It would certainly have helped her a lot more than just reading the praise for the musical.

Zelda heard the door squeak behind her and before she knew of it, Anju had entered the room. Zelda kept staring straight ahead, but she could still hear how Anju crossed the room to come over to stand next to her. Leaning in, Anju placed her chin on Zelda's shoulder as she read the article still open on the computer screen.

"Are you worried about the musical?" Anju asked as she finished reading.

"No." Zelda said, but Anju just looked at her, clearly not believing her, so she gave up on the pretence of being calm. "Perhaps a little bit. It's just… what do I do if I actually manage to get in?"

There was the sound of plastic wheels being dragged over wood as Anju dragged her own desk chair across the room to sit down next to Zelda.

"What do you mean?" Anju asked, reaching out to grab her hand.

"Well… if I get in and I get a role then—unless I can be one of the dragons or the Loftwing, of course—I will have to be on stage in front of the entire school and the students' parents while we present the musical."

"And you are worried about that?" Anju guessed, finishing Zelda's sentence for her.

Zelda nodded, trying to force out a laugh, but it sounded hollow and fake, even to her. "Yeah, you can say that. It's just, I don't know how to act, and I don't know anything at all really, at least when it comes to musicals. And I know that means that I most likely won't get into the musical, but I still, what if I do get in?"

Anju was silent for a moment, looking at Zelda with a look on her face that was a little too pitying for Zelda's liking. At last, Anju answered her. "Zelda, I really don't know if it will help you to talk more about this, to me it sounds like the best thing for you right now would be to try not to think about the musical at all."

"I have already tried that," Zelda admitted, "and that didn't help at all. Anju, if you have any kind of advice, please tell me."

Letting out a sigh, Anju gave in. "Okay. What I do when I get nervous is that I remember that the character I am portraying while on stage is a completely different person for me, so I try to think of it as not being me who is up there, but rather that it is some else. That way, I don't feel as embarrassed when I forget a line or am in the wrong place as I would have if I was constantly thinking about the fact that I was up there."

After hearing Anju's advice for her, Zelda had to admit that Anju had been right. It didn't help her to think like that, she was too aware of the fact that, despite the actor or actress not actually being their character, it was still their skill that got tested when they would have to pretend to be someone else.

But she managed some sort of grimace that might have managed to look both a little positive as well as having a tiny smidge of something convincing about it.

"Thank you, Anju."

"No problem. But I am serious, Zelda, try not to think about the musical too much when there is nothing you can do about it right now."

"I will try," Zelda promised although they both knew that that promise would most likely only last a few minutes.

Zelda wasn't sure if her conversation with Anju the evening before had something to do with how Midna and Anju spent several minutes during breakfast attempting to convince Cremia to join them and go Kakariko Village that day. It could just be a coincidence, after all. But when Midna and Anju were hallway through telling Cremia about all the things they could do in Kakariko Village—the list being almost comically short—and Anju, seemingly running out of patience, whispered something to Cremia, making her immediately change her stance and agree to with them, Zelda knew that it was anything but that. A sense of warmth bloomed in her chest, making her sit up a little more straight and—despite not having slept much that night—feel more awake. Sometimes her friends were the best. Most of the time actually.

That was why they, almost immediately after finishing breakfast, only delayed for a little bit due to both Zelda and Cremia having to run back to their respective rooms after their purses, made their way through the small crowd of students in the entrance hall waiting for their parents to come and pick them up. Walking past two boys excitedly chattering about their families, Zelda felt a pang of envy at how they did not have to worry about the auditions, before she calmed down enough to remind herself that she was the only one who had made the decision to go to the drama room.

She hadn't noticed how she was slowing down until Midna grabbed her hand, making her walk a bit faster to catch up with Anju and Cremia who were walking in front of them, having almost reached the front door, so engrossed in their conversation that they hadn't even noticed Zelda and Midna no longer walking beside them. A group of first-year students, eager to go home to their families, almost managed to step out right in front of Zelda and Midna, but Midna just hurried to get over to the door before they would have to wait for the group to pass.

"Hey, love birds, wait for us!" Midna called as soon as the door slammed behind her and Zelda.

Anju and Cremia turned around, both of them looking quite confused.

"Weren't you two right besides us just before?" Cremia asked.

"We did, but then some of the children got in between," Midna said, shaking her head, "so now we have to hurry if we want to make sure that we catch the bus."

With Midna quickening her pace and Zelda automatically doing the same, it did not take long for them to catch up with Anju and Cremia so that they could walk next to each other as they continued along the twisted road that led to the nearest bus stop. Thankfully, the bus had not yet arrived, and although Zelda did glance down the road to make sure that they had not missed it, it was not because it had been there already. So they went to sit on the bench next to the bus schedule. There had once been a little roof to shelter the people waiting for the bus when it would rain, but it had been taken down long ago due to the lack of people using it. For as long as Zelda could remember, the only remains of it had been the small pieces of metal sticking up from the ground.

"Man, it's going to be amazing to get away from there for a bit," Midna said after sitting down next to Zelda on the bench and leaning back as far as she could without being in immediate danger of falling down onto the ground, "just sucks that we have to go back."

Cremia let out a little laugh. "Why? Would you prefer to just stay in Kakariko Village without a place to live?"

"Bold of you to assume I wouldn't be able to make it there as a musical star."

"Does Kakariko even have a theatre?" Anju mused, touching her chin lightly.

"It does, we've even walked past it a number of times. It's right next to the mall."

"You mean the four stores that are placed next to each other?" Zelda said.

Midna just shifted her weight around to sit normally on the bench and gave Zelda a light shower on the shoulder. "Ha ha, very funny, Zel. Yeah, it's right next to those shops, so Kakariko Village does, in fact, have a theatre."

"But do they put on musicals?" Cremia pointed at Midna. "That is the real question."

"Sure they do. If not, then I will just be the first to suggest it, and I will be known for being a genius for my time!"

"Kakariko doesn't have the audience to have a theatre, I have no clue how that one has even managed to survive for this long," Anju said.

Midna just shrugged. "And yet it has."

Before Cremia got the chance to say anything to that, they heard the familiar sound of the bus turning around the corner and got up from the bench, all four of them digging through their purses to find their bus cards.

The bus stopped right in front of them, Anju reflexively taking a step back as the doors opened with a soft whistling sound.

The bus driver, an older woman named Navi, leant over in her seat. "So where do you ladies want to go today?"

"To Kakariko Village," Midna answered, having already stepped on the bus and gone to show her card.

"Kakariko?" Navi repeated. "Well, in that case, you are in luck since I am also going to Kakariko. So just get in, then I will help your escape from the school."

While she talked, she nodded at first Cremia, then Anju, and then at last Zelda, as they stepped in to show her their bus cards, gesturing for them to find an empty seat in the bus. The doors closed again and the bus began to slowly drive along the road to Kakariko Village, the sudden movement making Zelda sway slightly in the aisle between the two rows of seat as she walked behind Midna, Anju, and Cremia down towards the end of the bus. It was a widely known fact—or at least among the students who liked to go to Kakariko Village during the weekends, which meant everyone who did not have the option to go home—that those seats where the best. And since there was practically no one else on the bus, only a couple of old ladies in the front of the bus, they were free to sit there, Anju and Cremia on one side of the aisle, and Midna and Zelda on the other.

As Zelda went in to sit in the seat closest to the window, she noticed how the sky, which had otherwise been cloudless all morning, was turning a rather worryingly dark shade of grey. Well, at least it hadn't rained while they had been waiting for the bus to arrive. That would have been annoying especially given how they would have known that there had once been a roof to keep them from getting drenched in the rain.

"Oh, rain," Midna said, leaning over to follow Zelda's line of sight, "I will bet you ten Rupees that it won't actually begin to rain until we are of the bus."

"Well, I _know_ that it won't begin to rain until we are off the bus, so I am not willing to bet anything."

"Oh, you are a real meteorologist, aren't you?" Midna teased her.

Zelda just smiled and hit her lightly on the shoulder. "No, I just know how the sky looks when it's about to rain."

In the end, it turned out that both of them were wrong. About halfway through the twenty minute ride, the rhythmic drumming of the water drops hitting the roof of the bus began to resonate through the aisle. From the other side of the bus, Cremia leant over.

"Looks like neither of you were as good at predicting the weather as you like to imagine," she said, pointing up just in case they hadn't already heard how it had begun to rain.

Midna just laughed, leaning back in the bus seat, her eyes settling on the roof of the bus, drumming along on her leg to the rhythm the rain created.

The bus rolled up next to Kakariko Museum on the main street of the town—technically, it was the only street in the town large enough for a bus to be able to manoeuvre through without risking accidentally taking off the side-view mirror of any car that would be happening to drive in the opposite direction—a few minutes later.

"Have fun," Navi yelled after them as Zelda, Midna, Anju, and Cremia jumped off the small ledge and onto the sidewalk, all of them happy for the fact that the bus stop in Kakariko did still have the little roof to shield them from the rain, "and remember to be back in time! I don't want you to miss the last bus!"

"We will!" Anju called back, waving to Navi as the buss continued down the road. Then, she turned around to look at Midna, an expectant look on her face. "So what now?"

"I don't know," Midna said with a shrug, "we could go to Enchanted, I guess." she looked over at the three others, waiting for a response.

"Well, it would make Claree happy," Cremia said, and just like that, it was decided.

"Great, then that is what we will do," Midna declared, glancing out at the veritable curtain of rain that was pouring down just a few centimetres in front of her, "though, I guess we will just have to run over there."

They returned to the noise and the warmth of the school cold as ice and with soaked clothes, creating a little puddle on the floor whenever they would stand still for too long. Despite how they had tried to at least wring out the water in their hair, it was clear that there was no way they would be able to not make a mess. It probably hadn't helped that the rain had not decreased throughout the day, and Zelda had to admit that she had seriously underestimated how hard it would be to get water out of her hair when the rain was still pouring down. But there was nothing to do about that now, she could only hope that Henya would not catch them and make them peel all of the potatoes that would be served for the next year. So, careful not to make too much sound in the event it could get Henay's attention, Zelda began to make her way up the stairs to get to her room, happy that the noise from the dining hall might distract Henya for enough time to let them all get away.

She had barely made it up two steps, however, before Midna grabbed her arm. Turning around to see what the deal was, Zelda could feel how the movement sent a few drops of water flying from her hair and soaked clothes. At least it got absorbed by the carpet on the stairs, the only trace of it being a small spot where the carpet was now a slightly darker shade of red.

"Look, I think they have posted the callbacks for the musical," Midna whispered, and for once, she didn't sound like she had a sarcastic comment ready to mask the genuine excitement in her voice.

Squinting slightly, and already wishing she had worn her contact lenses or at least brought something to dry off her glasses with, Zelda looked over towards the open double doors leading into the dining hall. A rather big crowd had formed in the dining hall, a few students pushing to just get through the door. She couldn't see what they had crowded around, granted she would not even have been able to do that even if she had been wearing her glasses, but as it was now, the people standing around the entrance to the dining hall were all a bit too blurry for her to be entirely sure of who they were, although she was fairly sure that she could see Malon in the doorway. But it was evident that they had gathered around the noticeboard, possibly to look at a poster announcing the callbacks.

Turning back to Midna, Zelda raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't we go change into something that isn't completely drenched in water before venturing in there?"

"What, no!" Anju protested, her suddenness surprising Zelda a bit. "I want to see if they agreed with me that my voice would be suited for the role of Orville's sister," she explained, keeping her tone a bit more quiet.

"But, Henya…" Zelda said, pointing towards the puddle that had formed beneath her.

"I'm willing to risk my free time for the rest of the year to find out what role Thelma and Kass think I might be suited for," Midna said, letting go of Zelda's arm to instead begin to walk over to the dining hall, both Anju and Cremia following her.

Shooting the puddles that they had left one last glance, Zelda resigned herself to the fate of being stuck peeling potatoes for the rest of her life, and followed them into the dining hall.

The moment that she stepped over the doorframe, the noise grew in intensity, or at least it felt like it did, with all of the students around her shoving each other to get over to the noticeboard. Trying a couple of times to move through the crowd, prodding someone's shoulder from time to time to let them know that she was there, the few of them that bothered to turn around visibly softening when they saw how she was dripping wet from the rain, Zelda managed to make it all the way to the front of the mob, walking over to stand next to her friends.

"Look, right there," Midna said when she noticed Zelda standing next to her, pointing up at a poster that did, in fact, announce the callbacks for the musical.

Zelda looked up at, letting her eyes scan the words, looking for Midna's name. She found it written as the very first of the names of the people who would get called back to try and act the Hero's part.

"Congratulations—" she began, but Midna shook her head before Zelda even got the chance to finish.

Leaning in even closer to the poster, something that provoked a few yells of there being other people who wanted to search for their names, Midna pointed up at a name written in the block of names of the girls who were in the running to play Hylia. "No, look here, right here," Midna repeated.

Zelda looked over at the name Midna was pointing at. Despite how the noise in the dining hall had been so loud just moments ago, it seemed like it had completely disappeared, leaving Zelda in completely silence as she read her own name.

"Me?" she asked once she had regained the ability to speak. It couldn't actually be the case, she could have misread the name, or Thelma and Kass had made an accident while writing the names on the announcement.

But Midna just smiled at her. "Yes, you. I guess you were better at singing than you thought."

She didn't get the chance to object to that, because the next moment, Anju had thrown her arms around her, giving her a hug.

"Zelda, I'm so proud of you! Just look at that, your very first musical, and they are actually considering you for the role of Hylia, the role you specifically auditioned for no less!" Anju yelled, almost directly into her ear, resulting in Zelda instinctively take a step back, and Anju giving her an apologetic mile. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be so loud."

"It's okay," Zelda assured her while rubbing her ears.

Placing a hand on her girlfriend's shoulder, Cremia looked over at Zelda. "Well, since Anju already got pretty close to destroying your hearing, I think I will just say congratulations."

"Thank you," Zelda nodded at her, "but it's not like I have actually gotten the role yet, and didn't everyone get called back for the second round of auditions? I am almost completely sure that Thelma said that was the case."

But it seemed that nothing she said could quench her friends' optimism.

"No, not really. Everyone got a called back for something—you know, to make sure that no one would have to stay here for the weekend for nothing—but Thelma and Kass have already thought about whose voices will suit which roles. So they really think that you can sing well enough to be Hylia," Midna explained, saying it like it was a matter of course.

And maybe it was because Zelda desperately wanted Midna to be right and for Thelma and Kass to actually have liked her voice, or maybe it was because Midna did look quite convincing, staring directly at Zelda, still pointing at her name on the poster, but Zelda found herself believing her, even if it was only slightly.

Just then, Zelda noticed how Midna glanced away from her, looking at something behind her and then over at Anju and Cremia, a wordless conversation happening between them.

"Midna—"

Midna had already begun to move before Zelda got the chance to ask what was going on. She took Zelda's hand and, cursing under her breath, and quickly pulled her with her into the wall of people in front of them.

"Henya. We need to get to our rooms before she sees us."

Zelda nodded and did her best to move through the crowd while being as silent as she possibly could. There was no way she would be able to go to the acting audition for the musical if she was stuck in the kitchen with a rusty potato peeler and a job of peeling the potatoes meant for the entire school.

They thankfully managed to escape, although there was a close call when Anju fell while running up the stairs, instinctively reaching for Cremia, but missing her hand and instead grasping her ankle, something that nearly made Cremia lose her footing and send her tumbling down the stairs. But somehow Cremia managed to stay upright and they only lost the few seconds it took before Cremia had helped Anju up from the floor and they were all once again dashing towards their dorms, trying to contain their laughter.

Changing into warm, dry clothes did wonders for Zelda's mood, and, without really thinking much about it, she found herself humming the tune of the chorus from Ballad of the Goddess as she wandered around her room, trying to find her favourite pair of fluffy socks.

So when Zelda sat down for dinner that evening, she was all in all in a better mood than she had been for the majority of the day.

The same thing seemed to be the case for Midna, though she did her best to hide it, making comments about the food that was served. But no matter how many times Midna made it clear that she was not a fan of the soup, she didn't really come across as someone who meant it, not when she was smiling each time she would look down at her plate.

Not that Zelda couldn't understand it. She had gotten called back for the role of Hylia, but Midna had the chance to get to play the Hero, which was not only the leading role but also something Midna had evidently fought a great deal for the earlier year. If Zelda was excited and happy, Midna had to be practically bursting with joy.

Just as Zelda was about to get up to fetch the water carafe from the other end of the table, a redheaded girl from the table next to where Zelda was sitting got up from her seat and made her way over to them, standing right next to Zelda, who, a bit surprised as to why the girl had approached her, sat back down and looked up at her.

The other girl seemed to notice the quizzical look on Zelda's face, because she immediately sent her a little wave. "Hi, I just wanted to congratulate you. For getting called back to the acting audition for Hylia, you know."

"Oh," Zelda said, trying to mask the baffled tone in her voice, "thank you. Did you also get a callback for the role you tried out for?" she added in an attempt to hide that she didn't have any clue about who the girl was.

From the way that she began to laugh, Zelda knew that she had not done a good job at that.

"No, I didn't try out for a role," the girl said, still shaking with silent laughter, "I signed up to help sew the costumes."

Zelda tried to nod like she had known that all along. "Of course… than you must be really good at… I don't know, but that's difficult, right?"

"Yes, but it could have been way worse. The school already put on Skyward just a few years back, so we have all the costumes they made for that. But I do think that it took the sewing team a lot of time to make the costumes that year since they're all still in a pretty good condition overall." she pouted slightly. "But of course that also means that I won't have as much to do this year as I had last year, we did Wicked and, trust me, creating Glinda's bubble gown took a lot of time!" the girl leant in to whisper like she was sharing an insanely important secret, gave Zelda a cursory hug, and then headed back to her own table, leaving Zelda behind, absolutely stunned.

Around her, her friends just laughed at her speechlessness.

"So you just meet Mipha," Midna said once she had gotten done laughing, "and before you ask, yeah, she just is that way, really sweet like she is determined to make you happy. And since you are now a part of the musical family at this school, you are now among the people she does that to."

Zelda looked over at Mipha who had gone to sit down next to Link and seemed to be in the middle of telling a story to two girls, one with blonde hair and the other having a dark green hairband to keep her short, green hair out of her face. They looked quite young, most likely first-year students, and were paying close attention to everything Mipha was saying, having moved their plates aside to be able to rest their arms against the table as they took in every word that left Mipha's mouth.

Did the other people associated with the musical really think of her as being one of them even though she hadn't even really gotten in yet and had only decided to try out during her last year at the school? It all seemed too good to be true, to suddenly be a part of some huge group of people just because she had decided to go to that audition.

Audition.

It only took a word, and suddenly, Zelda felt the anxiety set in. There was only one day until she would have to go to the acting audition. What if she couldn't do it, what if she couldn't even act poorly, but just stood there in front of Thelma and Kass, unable to do anything but panic?

"Whoa, Zelda, are you okay?" Midna asked, Zelda's sudden change in mood having not gone unnoticed.

Anju reached over from next to Midna to place her hand on Zelda's. "It's about the musical, isn't it?"

"Yes," Zelda admitted, "but nothing big. I'm just worried about the acting audition, that's all."

"But that audition is the best," Cremia said, surprise apparent in her voice.

"Not when you have never taken drama. I took singing lessons when I was younger so at least I knew a bit about what I was doing during that audition, but I didn't take drama."

"Well, neither did Cremia and I. Trust me, you can learn how to act even though you didn't start when you were a child," Midna said, placing her spoon back in her bowl of soup.

"Not in time for tomorrow!" Zelda protested.

But Midna just blinked at her. "Trust me, I know you can do it. Besides, Thelma and Kass know that they won't find an amazingly perfect actor here, no offense, Anju—"

"None taken."

"—so just relax and trust me when I say that you will do well, okay?"

Zelda wanted to say no, to tell Midna that there was absolutely no way Zelda could go to the audition, and that it had all just been a mistake. But Midna smiled at her, and Zelda couldn't say any of that. So instead, she returned the smile. "Okay."


	3. Chapter 3

The commotion over the poster in the dining hall had died down by the next day, returning the school to the normal level of noise, which—at least during the weekends—meant that almost every room in the entire school was quiet enough to make for a nice reading spot, except, of course, for the hallway right outside the drama room were the auditions would take place that Sunday morning. Contrasting the silence of the rest of the school, the hallway was filled to the brim with students waiting to attend the acting audition, as well as a few friends who seemed to mostly be there to provide moral support. The students who did not have any plans of auditioning for the musical were easy to spot as they were the ones looking the most stressed out, constantly turning around to make sure that the door to the drama room was still closed, and that Thelma had not yet called anyone into the room.

Zelda spotted Mipha running around in the hallway, bringing a tissue to a young girl who had gone to sit down in a corner, arms wrapped around herself as she had started crying, before heading back to stand next to Link in a little group of second-year students in the middle of the room. Seeing Mipha there made Zelda feel a bit bad for how she hadn't stayed at the school to support her friends during the audition weekend the two previous years, having preferred to go home and not have to spend half of a Sunday dusting trophies in the entrance hall, since the teachers had apparently decided years ago that anyone staying at the school during the first weekend of September would have to participate in cleaning the school as some sort of supposed teambuilding exercise.

But she tried not to dwell on that, to not let her bad conscience drag her down and make her sad. Instead, Zelda focused on the people around her.

Somehow, seeing that she was not the most anxious person in the hallway helped Zelda to relax somewhat, balancing on the edge of the windowsill she was sharing with Anju and Midna, Cremia having chosen to simply stand right next to them, was watching the other students who had chosen to try out for the musical, wanting the chance of being in the musical enough to stay at the boarding school for the weekend, despite how at least some of them had to live close to the school and had had the opportunity to go home.

"Looking forward to acting out a scene from the show?" Midna asked from her spot next to Zelda.

"Hmm, but I wish we had gotten the chance to look at the scene beforehand to get a chance to practice."

"I don't," Anju declared, eyes not straying from the door, "I like this a lot better. We would only have gotten two days to read the script and practice our part if they had told us which scene they had picked for the acting audition immediately after we had gone to the singing audition so it is not like it would really have given us that much time to prepare. Besides, Zelda, would you have had any idea about what to do with the script even if they had told you which part to practice?"

"I guess I wouldn't," Zelda admitted, "I would have read it, memorised Hylia's lines, but after that I would probably just get stuck."

"And then you would have panicked, right?" Anju said.

"Probably." Zelda knew it was the truth even if, right then, it seemed almost surreal that, not even a day ago, the thought of the audition had almost brought her to tears.

From her spot between Zelda and Anju, Midna jumped in. "If nothing else, it also meant that we didn't have to spend the entire Saturday trying to rehearse only to come here and be paired up with someone who didn't interpret the text the same way that we did."

Anju pointed at her. "That too."

In that moment, the discussion was interrupted by Thelma opening the door to the drama room, looking at the people waiting in the hallway for a moment before announcing that she and Kass had gotten done setting up for the audition and asking for Link and Ravio to come in. Zelda looked over at Link who, after giving Mipha a hug and whispering something to her, went to follow Ravio into the audition room, the door closing behind them, the hallway once again buzzing with nervous whispers.

"Okay, time to figure out how Kass and Thelma are choosing the order for people to audition in," Cremia said, "it can't be alphabetically, then she wouldn't have started with Link and Ravio. But what else can it be?"

"No idea," Midna announced, pushing herself off the windowsill, "it's probably completely random."

Zelda found herself nodding along to what Midna was saying. She didn't exactly know much about Thelma other than how she was the one in charge with the musical, but it still seemed like Thelma was the one deciding how to plan the auditions and like she was one for making things unpredictable. Even if it would have been nice to know when she should expect to get called in, Zelda could still to some extent see the idea in doing the auditions like that.

Link and Ravio's audition barely lasted ten minutes, something Zelda wasn't sure what to think of. It seemed like an awful short time to try to get an idea of a person's ability to act, but perhaps that was just the way it was here, with the singing part of the audition having also lasted a relatively short amount of time.

Thankfully, Zelda didn't get a lot of time to let herself disappear in thoughts about the audition process, because the next moment, Thelma was calling for her and Midna to enter the drama room.

Jumping off the windowsill, Zelda followed Midna into the drama room, trying to remember how Anju had said that it was a good thing she hadn't gotten the chance to rehearse beforehand. As she got up there on the little raised stage, it was difficult to remember the reasons, but she tried her best.

"Okay," Thelma said, walking over to hand each of them a couple of papers, a paper clip holding each of the stacks together, "you two have voices that could potentially sound amazing together, we just need to make sure that you can also act the part," an uneasy look must have passed over Zelda's face, because Thelma quickly added, "no need to feel stressed about that, we just have to see if you can at least try, and we know that you aren't professionals. So just try your best, okay?"

Zelda just nodded, knowing that Midna did the same next to her. She considered sneaking a peek at the text written on the paper Thelma had handed them, but didn't, afraid it would seem rude.

"Great! Okay, now you just have to recite a part of the dialogue between Hylia and the Hero that takes place between Ballad of the Goddess and Hero Chosen by the Gods, with Hylia telling the Hero about her plan to save the Hylians, and the Hero thinking that he is unworthy of being chosen to wield the Master Sword, a sword made by the gods. Got it?"

"Yes," Midna and Zelda chorused.

"Good, then just try your best."

Despite how Thelma's many encouraging word were probably meat to make them calm down, they had the exact opposite effect on Zelda, making her instead feel more worried than ever about the entire thing.

It was a miracle that she had been picked to read the lines with Midna. It really was. Zelda saw the little, reassuring glance that Midna sent her, gently taking her hand and making her turn around before moving over to stand opposite Zelda so that they were standing with the side turned towards Kass and Thelma's table. Holding on to Zelda's hand for a moment longer than strictly necessary, the corners of Midna's lips curled up into a gentle smile, before she turned completely serious again and looked down at her manuscript.

Zelda wasn't really sure when she stopped worrying about what Kass and Thelma thought about her and simply began to focus on when her lines would begin and end, trying to imagine how Hylia, a goddess having to ask a mortal to possibly sacrifice their life for her, must have felt during that scene, but somehow, it happened, the pain in her stomach dwindling with each and every passing second. In front of her, Midna played the part of the Hero, being so convincing that it made it easier for Zelda to think of her not as her best friend but the hero she might have to lose. And somewhere in the middle of all that, Zelda found herself completely forgetting about how Thelma and Kass were watching them, the sounds of their pens scratching against the paper in their notebooks being blocked out until it was just her and Midna.

Once they reached the last line of the excerpt, Zelda had almost managed to convince herself that it was real, making her feel a bit bewildered as she didn't find herself standing in the middle of an ancient city, but rather in the drama room, Thelma telling them that they did well, really well, how impressed she was, and that they would announce who they had picked the next Friday.

Midna, however, didn't seem to have the same problem, and she made sure that Zelda went back out into the hallway with her, leading her over to the windowsill where Anju and Cremia were waiting for them.

"How did it go?" Cremia asked the moment they were close enough to her so that she didn't have to yell.

"It went well," Midna said, "although Zelda here did seem to get _a_ _bit_ too immersed in the story." she pointed at Zelda, a teasing twinkle in her eyes.

"Yeah that happened to during the acting audition in my first year as well." Cremia grinned, patting Zelda on the shoulder before turning back towards Midna. "You guys don't have to wait for me and Anju, we'll just find you after we are done."

"No way," Midna objected, "I'd rather wait for you than go and have to clean out the dining hall or something like that."

Anju placed a hand over her heart, pulling a wounded expression. "And here I thought you would stay to be moral support for Cremia and me!"

"Oh, you don't know me at all, Anju."

"Apparently I don't. But seriously, Midna, we are fine here, you don't have to stay," Anju said. Zelda noticed how she glanced over at her for a moment before looking back at Midna, so she shot her a little smile in an attempt to assure her that she was okay.

Midna touched her chin lightly, pretending to have to think deeply about it for a while. "Okay, then!" she said, having already halfway turned around to leave the hallway. "Zelda, are you coming as well?"

"Mhm," Zelda said, waving goodbye to Anju and Cremia before following Midna through the corridor.

As the distance between the two of them and the drama room increased, the sound of people chitchatting got less loud as well, the entrance hall being completely quiet when Midna and Zelda entered, walking up the stairs to see Ciela standing there, holding a feather duster in each hand and looking slightly lost. The moment she spotted them, however, she lit up, running over to meet them halfway up the stairs.

"I'm so glad to see you two," she said, pointing at them with the feather duster like she wanted to emphasise her words just in case they did not believe her, "the auditions seem to be taking a bit longer than Oshus had thought they would, because Link and Ravio—and now you two as well—are the only ones who have gotten back here. But at least you are here now; I thought that perhaps you could—"

"So should we go and clean up the hallway outside the dorms?" Midna interjected.

Zelda looked back over at Ciela, hoping that she would say yes and let them get the job that was by far the easiest one.

"No, I already sent Ravio and Link to do that. But you can go and dust the shelves in the library," Ciela said, already handing them the two feather dusters, before looking back up towards the top of the stairs, "they really do need that."

Midna frowned, but quickly composed her face when Ciela looked back on her. "The library? Are you sure?"

"…Yes," Ciela said, her voice betraying her, making Zelda wonder why Ciela had even decided to return to the boarding school the moment she had graduated to become Oshus' assistant. From what Zelda remembered from her first year, Ciela had never been that good at remembering things and keeping herself organised.

Deciding that the last thing Ciela needed was them doubting her again, Zelda nodded. "Then we will go to the library."

As she turned around to take Midna's hand, she was almost sure she saw the corners of Ciela's mouth curl up into something that could resemble a smile.

"And that's how we got stuck in the library for the rest of the day," Midna commented once they were out of earshot.

Zelda just shrugged. "Perhaps, or maybe it will just mean that Ciela will send more people over to help us once they get done with their auditions."

"I doubt it. But you know what I know for a fact?"

"No, what?"

"I know that I can get to the library much quicker than you!" with that, Midna broke into a mad dash, the sound of her shoes hitting the old, wooden floor filling the hallway.

Not wanting to let her win that easily, Zelda began to sprint down the hallway as well, soon catching up with Midna despite the other girl's head start and the fact that Midna, having longer legs, were able to take bigger steps than her. Both of them running next to each other, fighting to get in front of the other, they could only hope that no teacher would suddenly decide to step out from one of the rooms in the hallway and see them. Should they get caught, Zelda doubted that any excuse of just wanting to get to the library as soon as possible would be enough to save them from a detention, even if they showed the feather dusters as proof.

They got all the way to the library without anyone spotting them. Trying to get her breathing under control again, Zelda jumped over to touch the double doors leading into the library to show Midna that she had reached them.

"First!" she announced, looking back at Midna who just crossed her arms.

"I still think I was the faster one."

"Mhhm, _sure_ , that's why you got here several seconds after I did" Zelda chaffed, pushing open the doors to the library.

Both she and Midna stepped in, Midna immediately letting out a defeated sigh at the sight. "We're never going to get done."

The library was what Midna would probably describe as ancient and dusty, at least at the prospect of having to help clean the room, though Zelda preferred to think of it as meaning old and full of knowledge. There were bookcases against practically every wall and a few in the middle of the room as well with armchairs scattered around in the otherwise empty parts of the room, all of them being a bit creaky, but still perfect to sit down in to enjoy a good book, the dark red upholstery soft enough for Zelda to be able to find a comfortable reading position in only a few seconds. In other words, there was a lot of dust in there and Midna was probably right. They would never finish the task Ciela had given them.

Still, there was no reason to completely give up in advance, so Zelda just poked Midna in the stomach, making her immediately collapse with laughter.

"No need to give up already," Zelda said, doing her best to make her voice cheerful, "we just have to dust the shelves."

"Someday I will tease you for being so small to get revenge for all those times you have done that," Midna warned her, though her words seemed a lot less threatening when they were accompanied by Midna gesturing wildly with her feather duster aimed at Zelda.

"I can't wait," Zelda laughed, "but for now, do you think you would use your height to reach the top shelves? Then I can dust the ones closer to the floor."

"Hmm, I don't know, I could also just sit around and watch you try to reach it… but okay then, since it's you."

They got started, Zelda moving slowly along the bookshelves as she had to lift up each book slightly to get rid of the filth underneath, Midna being able to get her top half of the shelf done a little bit faster as there were no books on the topmost shelves. Somewhere between Midna telling an especially bad joke and Zelda coughing up the dirt she had accidentally inhaled while laughing at the joke, Anju and Cremia entered the library, both of them armed with feather dusters just like Zelda and Midna.

"Ciela told us to go and help you guys in the library," Anju explained as Zelda got up from the ground, still coughing faintly, "So here we are. Which bookcases have you already gotten cleaned?"

Midna pointed towards the door, then to herself. "Everything from there and over here. Although Zelda hasn't made it as far yet, so perhaps you could help her with the lower shelves?"

"Sure."

The next moment, Anju was sitting on the floor next to Zelda, helping her with the dusting, while Cremia seemed to have decided to be the one to make sure that all of the books were standing up straight.

"So," Midna asked, not taking her eyes of the shelf, "how did it go for you guys?"

"We had to do this scene that took place during the first act, it was essentially Orville trying to convince his little sister that there was nothing to be worried about," Cremia said, "Anju was great, but I know that I didn't do as well as I could have. My voice is also a bit too low for the sister's song, so I don't think I will get the role."

"There's no need to give up just like that. I think you did great!" Anju said.

"But you have to say that."

"Maybe. But that still doesn't change the fact that I mean it when I say that you shouldn't already decide that you weren't good enough to get the role."

"Actually," Cremia said, sticking her arm between two books to grab a paperback that had fallen into the small space between the bookcase and the wall behind it, "I wouldn't mind not getting the part of the sister." as they all stopped dusting to look over at her, she added. "I mean, I would of course prefer to, but I think Malon would be better for it."

Malon? Zelda looked back over at the book she had been about to lift up, trying to recall how the poster announcing the callbacks had looked. During the singing audition, Zelda had kind of assumed that Malon would be called back to try out for the role of Hylia, but now that she actually gave it a second thought, she could not remember seeing Malon's name in the list of names written underneath that specific role on the poster.

But it seemed that she was the only one who hadn't noticed that, as Midna just nodded at Cremia. "Did you hear anything about how the audition went for her?"

"Nope," Anju answered, cutting in, "but she went in together with Kafei right before us, and they both looked happy when they got back out, so it probably went well for them."

"Yeah, they definitely had to have had a perfect audition to be able to smile about having to go and ask Ciela about which part of the school they have to clean up," Midna said, looking at the books in front of her like she believed that if she just stared hard enough, the dust would leave on its own, vaporising, so that the task of removing it would no longer be their responsibility.

From her spot on the floor, Zelda waved her feather duster at her. "It's not that bad. We could have gotten stuck cleaning up the kitchen."

"That's true, but we could also just have gotten the job of cleaning the hallway outside the dorms."

"Midna, will you ever be happy about what task we get assigned during the audition weekend?" Cremia asked.

"Nope," Midna grinned, "I won't, so just get used to the soundtrack of me grumbling about it all the way through."

"I think we already have," Zelda said.

Midna looked down at her with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Good. You're beginning to see what being in the musical is really like."

It seemed that their teachers had all gotten a note from Thelma informing them that it would be a good idea to use the musical to get a reason for planning something in their lessons to be about the ancient legends, all of the teachers immediately deciding that they would definitely do that.

So when Zelda went to sit down at next to Midna at the table she, Midna, Anju, and Cremia usually shared in her Hylian class, both their history teacher as well as their religion teacher had already told them how they had planned something exciting where the students would learn about the ancient legends, their history teacher, Gaepora, trying to remain secretive about what exactly he had planned, managing to keep it a secret for a full ten minutes, before telling them that, in just a little over a week, they would all go to Kakariko Museum to learn more about the legends. He had said it with such a tone of glee in his voice that Zelda felt a bit bad about how he was clearly the person in the room who was the most excited about his plans.

But all of her teachers' talk about the legends also meant that Zelda was more than ready to get back to the normal lessons of the teacher talking for the first ten minutes before letting them work on their own.

Sadly, it seemed that Mrs. Marie had other plans for them, as she started the lesson by turning on the projector as well as the computer before spinning around to face her students.

"Okay, class, how any here have tried out for the musical?"

A few students sat up a bit straighter as they put up their hand, but most of the students just nodded at Mrs. Marie while doing a vague gesture towards themselves.

But Mrs. Marie didn't seem deterred by the lack of enthusiasm, simply clapping her hands together. "Good, it's good to see that. You know, the legend of the Hero and Hylia is one of my favourites, so when I heard that Thelma and Kass had decided that you would put on Skyward this year, I knew that I had to work this film into the curriculum!" she hesitated, clearly waiting for a response.

At their table, Zelda and Anju tried to smile at the teacher and there were a few students in the back of the room who let out a little whoop, making Mrs. Marie smile, before going back over to her computer to start the film and turn off the lights.

As soon as the lights were out, the sound of only slightly hushed mumbling filled the room, and Mrs. Marie turned back towards them, pausing the film to shush them. As soon as people at least bothered to whisper to each other instead of outright making conversation with the person sitting next to them, she started the film again, dragging her chair over to next to the door to watch the film.

"Here we go," Zelda heard Midna whisper to her. Twisting around in her chair for a second to look at her friend, Zelda saw that Midna had slumped in over the table, looking up at the whiteboard with a bored look in her eyes. Across from Zelda, Anju just shook her head at her, pointing over at the film.

So Zelda turned her attention back to the film.

It took her less than ten minutes to realise why Midna had looked so tired when the film started. Even though Zelda didn't exactly know a lot about the legends, having only really gained an interest for them after she had decided to try out for the musical, she was almost completely sure that the film was getting most of the details wrong, the film having the Hero being the ruler of a country attacked by a demon rather than someone who had been wrongfully imprisoned only to get freed and still decide to risk their life to fight an ancient evil. And when the first song started, it became awfully clear that some of the cast could not carry a tune to save their life, the actor playing Demise probably being the worst of them all.

"Look, they even had Nayru be in this and they still couldn't make it sound good," Midna whispered to her as Hylia descended from the sky to tell the Hero that she was there to aid them in their quest to save their kingdom, "and her Loftwing was red according to the legends not white."

Midna went quiet for a while, the film continuing on, the plot of it somewhat resembling the legend for a while, only to suddenly differ wildly, making the Hero come up with a plan to save the kingdom completely without Hylia's help.

As Hylia got captured by the demon's minions, the Hero setting out to free her, Midna made a retching noise. " _Why_?" she groaned, "Why can't they just make a film that actually is about the legend of Hylia and the Hero? Why are they doing this, reducing Hylia to some helpless woman?"

"Midna," Mrs. Marie said from her spot next to the door, pointing at Midna, "remember that this is a part of the curriculum and no matter what your stance on the quality of this film is, it might come up on your test."

"Sure, Mrs. Marie," Midna said, keeping quiet for a grand total of five minutes, before resuming giving commentary about the film, albeit a little bit lower this time so that only Zelda could hear it.

The week seemed to drag on and on, even more teachers jumping on the bandwagon of deciding to incorporate the ancient legends in their lessons, Zelda getting increasingly nervous each time she would go into the dining hall, because, yes, Thelma had said that they would announce the cast Friday, but what if they decided to do it earlier than that?

Already during Wednesday morning, Zelda's stomach ache had returned and when Friday finally rolled around, it had begun to worry her just a bit. She knew that it was just nerves, but after she had to spend a couple of minutes just lying in her bed Friday morning before she was able to even think about getting out of bed, it was no exaggeration to say that she couldn't wait for the roles to be posted.

So when she went down the main stairs to get to the dining hall that Friday morning, ready for breakfast, Anju walking next to her, and saw the by now almost familiar crowd of students standing right next to the noticeboard, her heart speed up just a little as she quickened her pace, running into the hall, only to almost bump into Cremia and Midna who were standing just next to the crowd, jumping up and down on the spot.

"You got it!" Midna yelled the second she saw Zelda and Anju, "Zelda, you got the role of Hylia!"

Her stomach felt like she was sitting in the rollercoaster, having just done a loop. When Zelda looked back towards the noticeboard, she did see the poster announcing the cast, even if it was too far away for her to make out exactly what it was saying. But almost as if they sensed her disbelief and tried to give her actual, concrete proof that what Midna was saying was true, a couple of the students around her looked over at her. Zelda spotted Mipha sending her a cordial nod. She tried to return the gesture, but found herself incapable of doing anything except staring at the poster on the wall.

Next to her, Anju, Cremia, and Midna continued talking, Zelda barely making sense of any of it. She had actually gotten the role of Hylia. Somehow, she had managed to not only not completely mess up her auditions, she had also done well enough to convince Thelma and Kass that she would be the right pick for Hylia. Had it not been for how she had also been there to hear Malon and the other girls wo had wished to play Hylia, she would probably have had the—as mean as it was—thought that everyone other than her had also just messed up their audition. But they hadn't, and even if she had a hard time truly allowing herself to believe it, Zelda knew that it had to mean that she hadn't either.

"Did you also see if I managed to get in?" Anju asked, and Zelda tore her gaze away from the announcement to focus on the conversation.

"Yeah," Cremia said, "we're both part of the ensemble, we're both going to be townspeople —probably during Ghost Attack—end then I'm also one of the Hero's four other best friends, and you will be the voice for Faron."

Anju nodded, taking in the information. "There will probably be some big dance number for us then, right?"

"Probably."

"I'm so bad at dancing," Anju sighed, "Jolene is probably going to have to give up on me."

"Or she'll just have you be at the front during the dance numbers so that you will have no choice but to learn the choreography," Cremia teased her, slinging an arm around Anju's waist.

Anju giggled. Studying her friend's face, Zelda tried to look for any signs of disappointment. Zelda knew herself well enough to know that had she been in Anju's place, she would not have been able to just laugh at the fact that she had ended up not getting the role she had tried out for originally. Sure, it would probably not have been a case of Zelda being absolutely horrible at singing and acting, but rather just the others who had been amazing, but Zelda was sure that she would still have ended up using the most of the day thinking about every little thing she could have done better, mentally berating herself for not having thought about them before the auditions.

But as she watched Anju laugh, giving Cremia a quick peck on the lips, she realised that Anju was not thinking like that, just happy that she had gotten into the musical at all. It wasn't the first time that Zelda found herself envying Anju slightly for that, wishing that she could look at the world like her friend did.

The next moment, Zelda was lifted off the floor, making all the self-depreciative thoughts disappear.

"You did it!" Midna's eyes sparkled as she spun Zelda around. "You said you couldn't, but you did it!" she placed Zelda back down on the floor, but didn't let go, rather pulling her in for a hug.

The fragrance of Midna's hair hit her as something new—soft and flowery—as Zelda looked back up at Midna to find her own joy reflected in Midna's face.

"You should probably get used to being lifted up," Cremia commented dryly from next to them, "Midna is constantly having to fight the instinct to lift everyone who is shorter than her up, but when she is at rehearsal, she just doesn't care, just you wait and see."

While Midna stuck out her tongue at her, Zelda just laughed. "But I'm a goddess now, so maybe I should be the one lifting you rather than the opposite!"

"No offense, Zelda, but you are way too short to do that."

"Offense taken."

"Guys," Anju said, cutting through their banter, "do any of you know when we are going to start the rehearsal process?"

"Yeah," Midna said, nodding back towards the noticeboard, "we have to attend rehearsal Saturday at nine o'clock."

"This Saturday?"

"Mhm."

Around them, the other students were beginning to gradually leave the area right next to the poster, instead going to get seated and eat breakfast, one of them bumping right into Zelda, making her take a step forward to regain her balance.

"Whoa, are you okay?" Midna asked, having already taken a step toward her and placed a hand on Zelda's right shoulder to help her steady herself.

"I'm fine," Zelda assured her, "someone just bumped into me, that's all."

Midna turned turn glare daggers at the student who had walked into her. Zelda followed her line of sight, recognising the boy as Mido, another first-year student.

"So," Anju said, looking back and forth between Zelda and Midna, "we should probably hurry up and go eat, shouldn't we?"

Glaring at Mido for an additional second, Midna nodded, dropping the issue. "Yes, let's go. Zelda, are you coming as well?"

"Yes," Zelda said before hurrying over to walk along with them to the nearest table. The stomach ache was wearing off, letting her feel that she was in fact quite hungry.

"So how do you feel about the musical?" Anju asked, placing her cup of hot cocoa back on the desk next to her and Zelda. "About being Hylia, I mean."

Zelda sat with her feet pulled up on her chair, having one arm wrapped around her legs while holding her own cup of hot cocoa in her other hand, looking out of the window. Even though they had eaten dinner almost two hours ago and the sun had all but disappeared behind the horizon, she could still spot a couple of figures running around on the lawn outside, practicing fencing with each other. The fencing club. Zelda had never been one to join any of those kinds of afterschool activities, having preferred those that let her sit inside and work on her own. But here she was, having joined the musical, ending up with actually getting a role. The little, nagging feeling in her stomach was telling her to feel bad about it, saying that she wasn't appreciating it enough, and no matter how hard Zelda tried to silence it, it just kept being there, ready to return with newfound strength each time she had managed to forget about it..

But Anju looked at her with such joy that Zelda didn't want to ruin any of it by telling her about her doubts.

Forcing a smile on her face, Zelda tried her best to not let her face reveal her feelings. "I feel fine, maybe a little bit worried about how to remember my lines."

"Don't think about that, I promise you that with your memory, you will learn them while rehearsing, and if you don't, I'll gladly go over them with you."

"Thank you."

"But, actually," Anju continued, "that wasn't really what I was talking about."

"Oh, what was it then?" Zelda glanced down at her drink. The marshmallow had melted, lying on top of the cocoa as a deformed piece of sugary decoration.

"Well, the love between Hylia and the Hero is a pretty big part of the musical, and I was just wondering… if you were comfortable with acting out that part. You didn't look like you enjoyed your audition all that much and if there's anything I know, it is that a lot of people find it really awkward to have to act like they are in love with another person while on stage."

It was actually something Zelda had given a thought, but only one, as it wasn't really something that had troubled her for more than that one moment.

"No, I actually don't fear that part. Midna and I are best friends after all, so I do already have the luxury of knowing the one playing the Hero really well," Zelda said, pausing to take a sip of her hot cocoa, "but I would probably have found it a bit awkward to have to pretend to be in love with someone I didn't know like I know her."

Anju looked down into the contents of her cup, mumbling something to herself under her breath.

Seeing Anju like that, suddenly going quiet, reminded Zelda of what had happened just that morning.

Leaning in towards Anju, Zelda moved a couple of loose pieces of paper away from her desk before she placed her cup down where they had just been. "Really, Anju, it's fine. And how do you feel about being Faron?"

Her words had an instant effect on Anju. She looked back up from her cup, grinning widely. "Amazing, there is this wonderful harmony between the three dragons during Song of the Hero, I actually need to talk with Dark and Riju about that."

Anju kept on talking enthusiastically about how she should probably meet up with the other students playing the part of the dragons to rehearse their parts on their own, but Zelda soon stopped listening, just looking over at Anju.

There was no pretending on Anju's part. She was happy, and Zelda knew that it was not about her being relieved that she didn't have a lot of lines to learn by heart—if Anju had gotten the part of the Hero, she would have been just as ecstatic, not worrying for a second about whether or not she would end up embarrassing herself.

As Zelda looked at her, she wondered what would have happened if she had tried out for the musical her very first year just like Midna, Anju, and Cremia had done. Maybe she then would have felt more like a part of the musical and less like the one who had just decided to try out on a whim and didn't take it as serious as the others did.

Or maybe she would still have had an almost constant stomach ache. Zelda figured that she would never find out.


	4. Chapter 4

Zelda woke up that Saturday to find the school almost completely deserted, even more so than when they had done the auditions.

Walking down to the drama room to attend her very first rehearsal, Zelda could only hope that there wasn't a reason for why almost every student who had the chance to do so had chosen to go home. She was sure that Midna would have told her in advance if rehearsal was going to involve sounds with a deafening volume, but what if there was something other than that that had made everyone go home for the weekend?

She waited outside the door to the rehearsal room for a few minutes, trying to get a grip on herself, repeating over and over that the next time, she would not tell Midna not to worry and that she could get down to the drama room on her own. Just having a friend next to her would have helped her nerves a lot, Zelda was sure of that. But here she was, alone, all because she had insisted on Midna, Anju, and Cremia not having to wait for her. Nayru, she really needed to stop overestimating her own abilities and she needed to do that soon.

Zelda placed her hand on the door handle, trying to force herself to push down and go in. There was nothing to be afraid of, if rehearsal really was an absolutely horrible experience, people would not have kept on trying out for the musicals year after year. Taking a deep breath, Zelda pushed open the door and stepped into the room.

It was slightly darker inside the drama room than out in the hallway, but Zelda could still clearly make out the outline of the multiple people already sitting in the chairs that had been arranged to form a circle in the middle of the room. She even spotted the blonde first-year student she had seen listening to Mipha accompanied by the girl with green hair, although Zelda was almost entirely positive that neither of them had been there at the auditions.

"Zelda! Over here!"

Just as she had been about to question whether she was even in the right place at all, someone thankfully called her name. Turning towards the source of the sound, Zelda spotted Midna waving at her before pointing towards an empty chair next to her own, Anju and Cremia sitting next to her. Grateful that she would not have to make her way around in the darkness, Zelda walked over and sat down in the chair.

"Excited?" Midna asked, the little jumping motion she made making sure that Zelda would not have to ask what Midna's answer to the same question would have been.

Zelda did a vague but somewhat confirming gesture, keeping a close eye on the door. It couldn't take more than a few minutes more for Kass and Thelma to arrive, assuming that they wouldn't be late. Next to her, Midna stopped talking, seemingly realising that Zelda needed some time to herself. Instead, she just placed her hand on Zelda's, squeezing it slightly.

It didn't take long for Kass and Thelma to arrive, but Zelda still somehow managed to be surprised when the door went up and Thelma stepped into the room, Kass following right behind her, carrying a backpack that looked quite heavy at least with how much it seemed to weigh him down.

"Goddesses, it's dark in here," Thelma laughed before walking over to turn on the light.

The sudden light coming from the fluorescent tubes made Zelda blink a couple of times before she was able to focus on Kass and Thelma again. Around her, she could see that she was not the only one who had been surprised by the intensity of the light, almost every other student in the circle having also turned their faces away so that they were no longer looking directly up at the ceiling.

Thelma, however, seemed perfectly comfortable as she and Kass made their way over to the two empty chairs located closest to the raised stage, Kass placing his backpack next to one of the chairs.

"Okay," Thelma clapped her hands together as she sat down, "since I know that most of you are probably quite nervous right now, seeing as this might be the first time you have tried out for the musical here," Zelda was happy that Thelma looked over at one of the first-year students at that rather than her, "we are going to give you all of the information that you will need as quickly as possible so that you at least don't have to worry about that anymore." she paused to look glance at them, getting a scattered mumble of 'yes' in return. But Thelma just smiled so brightly that they might as well have yelled their response. "Good. So, first things first, you have to know which of us teachers are involved in the musical. Well, you've already meet me and Kass. Kass here is our musical director, but I'm sure that everyone in the school orchestra already knew that."

One of the first-year students Zelda couldn't remember seeing at the auditions whispered something to her friend, both of them laughing. It wasn't until then that Zelda realised that they were probably in the orchestra. She wasn't sure why she hadn't thought of that before, of course, she hadn't known that the orchestra would also be there, but as she looked around in the circle, she knew that it was too big for it to only be the actors sitting there.

If Thelma had noticed the way that a few of the students were whispering amongst themselves, she didn't show it, simply continuing. "That means that Kass is the one to listen to when it comes to everything concerning the music—vocals, instruments, everything. I'm the director, meaning that I will be the one supervising the musical as a whole, though you will probably know me more as the one telling you where to be on the stage and when to deliver your lines. Other than me and Kass, Jolene will be a part of the musical. She will start meeting with you once we have rehearsed the songs with you and can start working on blocking the scenes since she is the choreographer, so when it comes to the dances, she is the one you should listen to, just like she is also the teacher in charge of the costuming. Robbie has agreed to help us with everything technical, so Zelda," she pointed at Zelda, making the students around her turn in their seats to look at her, "there's nothing for you to be afraid of when you will be on the platform that gets pulled up under the roof."

It was probably meant as a joke, but Zelda didn't find it particularly funny, having preferred if Thelma had not drawn attention to her like that. At least the ones who had turned to look at her redirected their attention back to Thelma after only a moment, but that did not make it any less uncomfortable for Zelda the few seconds the moment lasted.

"Since we are reusing most of the costumes we used the last time we put on Skyward…." Thelma looked over at Kass, "how many years was it again?"

"Six years."

"Oh, yes, it's been six years already. How time flies. Well, anyway, since we already have the bases for the costumes, we have the chance to really make them spectacular this year. Jolene has already looked at them and since they are already in a good condition, she doesn't think that the students who have volunteered to create the costumes will have to spend a lot of time on them, only having to adjust the sizes. What this means is, that as long as we have enough money, we might be able to improve them and make them even better than they were six years ago. This leads me to my next point—"

"Here it comes," Midna whispered to Zelda, her voice barely audible over Thelma's.

"—the bake sale!" Thelma said. "Henya has agreed to let us use the kitchen from for the entirety of Friday afternoon so that we can also sell cakes to your parents when they visit for the Parents' Night Friday." she blinked at them. "And we know from past years that your parents are the ones who really buy the cakes, so it couldn't be better! Now, Hena is the one in charge of the economy, and I'm no expert when it comes to that, but what I do know is, that last year's bake sale was a success, making enough money so that there was still something left for this year, so try to keep that in mind, so that we can do the same for next year's musical, okay?"

It was of course Malon who was the first to nod and agree to do her best at the bake sale, the rest of the students following her.

Thelma just smiled as she continued. "I know that you might not all think that baking is the best thing in the world, but try to remember that it isn't only a way to raise money for the musical, it's also a way for you to get to know each other and to create a feeling of community. But the bake sale is not the only thing we have planned in that regard." she paused to give her words time to sink in, waiting just long enough to make a few of the students begin to speculate on what it could be before answering their questions. "We will also go and play laser tag together in a little over three weeks. I have arranged for us to go on a Sunday, the day after we should be done with blocking the scenes. So when you are about to yell at me when I suggest trying something new for the tenth time, just remember that you will have time to take your aggressions out on someone else that Sunday, and since I won't actually participate in the laser tag itself, I won't really care if that is the way you decide to deal with those feelings that day. "

A few of the students laughed, but for the most part, people had been too busy cheering loudly to have heard the last part of what Thelma had said.

Next to Zelda, Midna had reached over to grab her arm, practically bouncing in her seat. "This is awesome! Can you play laser tag?"

"I've never tried it before."

"Doesn't matter, you'll love it!"

Despite all of the chaos in the room that had been created by her words, Thelma looked completely at ease, simply glancing out over the room with a little smile. "Now," she said, "I know that laser tag is amazing, but we still have a solid three weeks of work in front of us before we will go to Kakariko Village to play laser tag in Bomchu Laser Tag Alley, so we should probably get started on that. Since it's important that you will all actually be here when you are needed during rehearsal, Kass and I have put together schedules detailing which days everyone will be needed and which days we will only need for a few of you to show up. In addition to that, we will also create a list with all of your phone numbers so that, should the worst happen and you don't show up on time for rehearsal, we will have a way to contact you and ask where you are." she looked at them, suddenly serious, with a look that told them not to try doing that. "So, Kass, if you would send the paper around."

Kass took out a piece of paper and handed it to the student sitting next to him, a third-year student with turquoise hair Zelda was quite sure was named Ruto.

"As you can see," Thelma said as the paper was slowly passed through the circle of students, "there's also a column asking if you have any health issues that we should be aware of. Please don't hesitate to write something there, I know that you might not think it's significant enough to warrant a mention, but we really don't want to accidentally cause someone to get hurt during one of the future rehearsal sessions, so really, don't be afraid of writing something there even if it doesn't seem all that important right now."

When the paper reached Zelda, she quickly took a glance at it before finding the column for writing her phone number. Then, she stopped, looking at the lines for writing about any health issues she might suffer from. Stomach aches weren't serious enough for her to write them there, were they? She doubted it. Besides, it was probably just her nerves that made her stomach hurt. So Zelda handed the piece of paper over to Anju without writing anything other than her phone number.

The paper made it all the way back to Thelma in about ten minutes, something Zelda felt a bit proud about. If nothing else, they were at least effective when it came to writing their own phone numbers.

And it seemed that Thelma was also happy with how little time it had taken for them all to write down their phone numbers, as she accepted the list from the student sitting to her right and looked down at it with a little smile. "Thank you. Now that we are done with all of that, we can get started on the read-through. So, Kass, I don't need to take up any more of your time. The same goes for everyone involved solely in the school orchestra."

There was a rattling of chairs against wooden planks as about two thirds if the people who had turned up for the rehearsal got up, some of them sending a little smile to Thelma before leaving. Zelda saw how both of the two first-years she had seen Mipha talk to got up to leave as well, proof that they were indeed in the school orchestra. Kass left the room as the very last, leaving the backpack behind and making sure to close the door behind him.

The moment the door was closed, Thelma get up to pull an enormous stack of papers out of the backpack. As Zelda watched how Thelma had to place one stack of paper after another on one of the now empty chairs to get her hands free to pull out yet another stack she wasn't surprised at all that the Kass had looked like he struggled with carrying the backpack.

At last, it seemed that Thelma had gotten all of the papers out of the backpack. She stood back up, pointing down at the chair filled with papers. "These are your manuscripts, please take good care of them because we don't have extras and paper is expensive so it would be nice if we don't have to make a new one too often. But if you could please take one, then we can get started on the read-through."

Midna was fast, or at least she was faster than the other students. She was the first one to reach the chair, grabbing four scripts before heading back over to her chair and taking a script for herself.

"Here," she mumbled, handing the stack of the three remaining scripts over to Zelda who took one before sending the two last stacks of paper over to Anju and Cremia.

After making them move their chairs a bit closer together and push the chairs that had been used to seat the orchestra members away, Thelma made sure to explain to them how the read-through would be completely harmless and that no one would be judging anyone. But all of that did very little to help Zelda not feel like she was about to throw up each time she had to read a line. Around her, everyone sounded so at ease, managing to make their lines sound heartfelt when the script called for it or angry when the scene was tenser, but Zelda could hear how she just kept sounding like a scared child hoping for her mum to show up even if Impa actually walking in through the door was the last thing Zelda could wish for right then. Not even considering the embarrassment of her mum showing up at school, Zelda was not sure how she would handle her mum seeing how awful Zelda was at the read-through.

Thelma finished the meeting off by telling them that she had been pleasantly surprised by how well they had done, the knowledge that she was already so far behind everyone else only making Zelda's stomach ache intensify, and—after giving them yet another reminder to take care of their manuscripts—Thelma let them leave a few minutes early.

"So," Anju asked the moment they had stepped away from the door, looking over at Zelda, "how was it?"

Zelda paused. She supposed that it had been a nice experience or at least it would have if her stomach had not begun to hurt halfway through and if she had done better during the read-through.

"Overwhelming," she said, deciding that it was fitting enough to sum it all up.

"Yeah, I know," Cremia said with a little laugh, "but don't worry; it's always like that the first time since there is a lot of information to give out. Once we start to block the musical it will get less hectic and also less crowded since Thelma won't need everyone to be present for every scene."

It wasn't exactly what Zelda had meant, but she nodded along to what Cremia was saying nonetheless.

Slinging her arm around Zelda's shoulders, Midna pointed at Cremia. "It's true, once everything begins to fall into place and you can begin to see what the finished product will look like, you will begin to feel more and more in control of what is going on."

Zelda hoped that Midna was right. As it was, she barely felt in control of herself, and if she couldn't make herself do a good enough job, how could she hope for Thelma and Kass to be able to?

It took longer than it normally did for her mum to answer the phone. But Zelda couldn't really begin to whine about it, she had, after all, not remembered to call her mum to tell her that she had gotten the role of Hylia. In between school and having to deal with the stomach aches that would appear each time she had to try to sing or act in front of anyone, calling her mum had completely slipped her mind.

She paced around in her room for the few minutes of the phone beeping, the pain in her stomach increasing just a tiny bit each time it did so.

Nayru, why couldn't she relax for once?

Finally, her mum answered the phone.

"Mum," Zelda said before Impa had even gotten the chance to say anything, "I got into the musical."

There was a sound of Impa whispering to Tetra that she was talking to Zelda, and then she answered. "You did? That's amazing, Zelda, you have to tell me everything. How was the audition? How did it go?"

"Well," Zelda shrugged even though she was alone in her room, "at first, I didn't think it had gone that well. Some of the other girls were _really_ good at singing, and I'm definitely not good at acting—"

Impa cut in, interrupting Zelda. "Nonsense, you're a great singer!" she managed to say it with such an amount of conviction in her voice that it almost managed to not sound like the obligatory mum-comment of 'no, you're brilliant sweetheart, don't ever think otherwise!' the keyword in that sentence, however, being 'almost'.

"Hmm," Zelda mumbled, "yeah, okay, sure, but apparently I was good enough to get to play Hylia."

"Hylia? Zelda, do you mean to tell me that you got the role of the goddess and still don't think you did a good job at the auditions?" Zelda opened her mouth to answer, but Impa just continued on. "Because let me tell you, when I was your age, Hylia was my dream role, I would have given practically anything to be able to sing well enough to be Hylia in the school musical. Honey!" Zelda heard her mum call for her father. Impa seemed to have moved the phone away from her mouth a bit, but she could still hear every word. "Zelda got into the musical, she's going to play Hylia!" in the background, Zelda's father said something, making her mum sigh. "No, that's the Hero. Hylia is the goddess. Remember when I took you to see Skyward for our one year anniversary? The lady standing next to the huge bird on the platform that was lowered to the ground during one of the first songs—that was Hylia."

Smiling to herself, Zelda walked over to her desk to sit down. It really was typical for her father, mixing up who the Hero and the goddess were.

Her mother's voice grew louder on the phone as she got back to talk with Zelda. "I'm so proud of you, and so is your father. When did you know that you would be playing Hylia?"

"They announced it yesterday."

"And you didn't call me before now? No, I'm just kidding, Sweetheart, I get it, there's been a lot for you to do these past two days, haven't there?"

Zelda thought about everything she had done after finding out that she would play Hylia in the musical. Friday had not exactly been all that different from a normal day for her, at least not outwardly. On the inside, she had been a mess, joy, fear, and nervousness mixed up in a chaos of emotions. And then Saturday morning with all of the information and the amount of work that had to be done sending Zelda's head spinning each time she would remember that there was less than two months until the entire musical had to be ready and they had to have rehearsed every single scene, knowing everything by heart.

"Yes," she agreed.

Impa chuckled. "Just try to enjoy it. I know that you want everything to be perfect, but I think it will be a better experience for you if you just accept that you only have control over your own performance, so just focus on that and nothing else, okay?"

Staring into the wall, Zelda wondered if her mum didn't know that she was already ware of that fact. Zelda wasn't pretending not to know that the only thing she really had full control over when it came to the musical was herself. That was exactly what was making her so scared of messing up, the knowledge that doing a good job at playing Hylia was the one thing she had to do and that if she couldn't do it, either by missing a note or by blanking out and forgetting all of her lines, she would not have managed to take care of her only responsibility.

But she did her best to sound happy and relieved, mirroring her mum's laugh. "I will."

"That's good, just make sure that you know what you are doing, that's the only thing you can really do. But, speaking of the musical, who is going to play the part of the Hero?"

"Midna," Zelda answered.

Impa went quiet for a moment. "Midna? Your Midna?"

"The one and only."

"But isn't the Hero usually portrayed by a man? Does Midna have the vocal range required for that?"

"Of course she does," Zelda said, feeling strangely defensive over her best friend, "I actually haven't heard her sing all that much, but she got the role, so she must have. However, I do know that she is wonderful at acting."

"Well, tell Midna I'm happy for her." there was a pause and Zelda could hear how Tetra was calling for her mum as Imp's voice grew distant. "Zelda, I'm sorry, but I have to go."

"It's fine," Zelda said, but her mum had already hung up, and the phone beeped in her hand as Zelda looked down at it.

Somehow she was feeling even more unclear about what she could do to make the musical good as it was possible for her than before.


	5. Chapter 5

Monday, school continued, most of the teachers still adamant that they could find a way to work the legends into their lessons. Zelda would perhaps have agreed with them had it not been for the fact that she spent most of her mathematics class trying to figure out what the angle between Hylia's Loftwing, the ground and the top of the tower the Hero was standing on would be as the goddess descended from the sky. After that, she was more than ready to go back to the normal kind of maths assignments.

At least they didn't get too much homework, something Zelda was thankful for as she was supposed to be in the drama room for a couple of hours that afternoon to rehearse with the rest of the cast of the musical as well as the school orchestra.

However, even though the class ended a few minutes before time and she hurried to get to the drama room, Zelda along with Midna, Anju, and Cremia were still among the last people to enter the classroom. As Zelda stepped into the room, she the first thing saw was how the entire orchestra was already there, setting up their instruments and generally looking completely at home there in their corner of the room, having already gone to sit down in the chairs that had been placed in neat rows. Meanwhile, nearly everyone else were still standing up, glancing towards the front row of chairs that were still free, but not daring to go and sit down before they knew if that was what they were indeed supposed to do. Midna kept standing up as well, convincing Zelda that there was a good reason for doing the same. So she joining her friends in walking over to the crowd of people just standing in the middle of the room.

At last, Thelma and Kass arrived as well. They stopped right next to the door, looking at the amount of people in the room.

"Okay," Thelma said, pointing towards the empty seats, "if everyone gets seated so that we can get started, then that would be great."

As everyone began to push to get to the chairs, all in a hurry to begin, Zelda reached out to grasp Midna's hand to make sure that they would not get separated in the crowd. Behind her, Anju and Cremia did the same and soon they were a little chain on people moving towards the chairs.

It didn't take longer than maybe half a minute before everyone was sitting down, but it felt like much longer with everyone constantly blocking the way for everyone else. But at last, Zelda could sit down next to Midna and watch as the rest of the actors went to sit down as well.

"Yeah, we will have to work on your ability to work together," Thelma observed, shooting them a slightly disappointed glance that made Zelda's stomach drop, "some of the scenes will require that you are aware of where everyone are and how to get off the stage again quickly without the risk of running into someone. But don't worry about that right now, we will have plenty of time to work on that. Right now, it's time to listen to Kass."

She gestured for Kass to step forward, and he did so, soon standing right on front of the rows of chairs.

Coughing a couple of times to clear his throat, he began. "As you may know, Skyward doesn't have a lot of songs, at least compared to some of the other musicals we have put on here. That means that we will have some extra time to make sure that the ones we do have to learn are perfect. Now, we are going to start off by learning The Legendary Hero. It's the last song in the first act, but I'm sure that you already knew that." he looked towards the members of orchestra, and Zelda could hear how a few of them mumbled that they did indeed already know that. "We will do that by trying to perform the song right now. This is just supposed to help us to get a sense of how it sounds, so don't worry too much about messing up. But if you would please turn to page twenty-one so that we can get started," Kass smiled at them as the sound of people flipping through their manuscript filled the room.

Even though the people around her seemed to agree that there was nothing to worry about, nodding at Kass' words, Zelda found herself feeling slightly queasy. Trying to discretely place a hand on her stomach to calm it down, she tried to tell herself that if she could just take it easy, the risk that she would make a mistake during her part of the song would be much lower. But her stomach didn't seem to agree with her on that, continuing to hurt, seemingly intent on making her as uncomfortable as it possible could.

At least Hylia would only have a small part during the last chorus of the song, and as she would never be singing all on her own, and with an entire orchestra playing almost constantly in the background, Zelda knew that no one but herself would be able to pay close attention to how she was sounding. But she did, and she was not at all happy with how she sounded. Of course, there were problems all the way through the song. Zelda could hear how a lot of the actors were not coming in at the right time, and how the girl playing the cello right behind her struggled with keeping track of the rhythm during the moment of rest halfway through the number.

But from the way that Kass smiled once they reached the end, she would have thought that they had done much better than they really had.

"Great!" Kass said, "I won't lie, it was by no means perfect, but all things considered, you did do well. Now, there are a few things we will have to work on, but I know that we can do this." he started making corrections, and Zelda realised just how many mistakes she had not noticed during the number. But at least Kass didn't single her out specifically to tell her to do better, rather, he just made general statements, reminding everyone to pay attention throughout the entire song and not just when they were supposed to sing or play their instrument.

The second time they tried performing the number, everything went better. The improvements were by no means great, but Zelda could still hear that they had corrected some of the earlier mistakes, if only slightly. Behind her, she could hear how the girl on the cello was muttering to herself as she attempted her best to keep count of the bars. By the time they had played through the song for the fifth time, Zelda was beginning to feel just a tad bit more confident about doing the same on stage in front of the school and most of the students' parents.

She saw how Thelma and Kass talked together after the chorus had hit the last note and wasn't all that surprised when they announced that they would move on to Ghost Attack, another song where almost everyone would be present on stage—except, of course, Zelda.

Slowly, she began to grow a bit more confident that no one would announce how she was not good enough to all of the other students. It was nice knowing how the rehearsal would progress, Kass picking a song that they would then perform over and over until it started sounding like something that might actually turn out to not be absolutely horrible when they would have to perform it on the stage, and before Zelda realised it, she had already been in the drama room for almost two entire hours.

"Good," Kass said as the hands of the clock hanging above the door showed that there were only about five minutes left of the rehearsal session, "you all did really well. I want to say that you did better than I had dared to hope for, but I'm sure that you all knew that I only expected the best from you. Well, anyway, Wednesday will be the last time this week that we all meet like this." he gestured towards them. "Since there are only four songs in the musical that features nearly everyone, it wouldn't make sense to practice the rest of the songs this way. So Wednesday will be spent learning the last two of those songs, then we will host the bake sale on Friday and learn the rest of the songs Saturday, using the first half of the session to teach you the songs in smaller groups and then meeting up again after lunch to go through them all to make sure you can sing them all during the show. Okay?" he didn't wait for them to answer, simply gesturing towards the door. "Then we are done. I want to tell everyone that they did an amazing job."

A few of the members of the orchestra yelled that Kass had also been amazing, but for the most part, people just nodded at Kass before closing their manuscript and getting ready to leave the room. Zelda wished that she could be like the ones that bothered to answer Kass, but she was just too tired for any of that. She wanted nothing more than to just get back to her room and get finished with the homework that was still waiting for her there.

Midna, Anju, and Cremia ended up going with her up to her room after asking if they could do their homework with her. Zelda had answered yes after having spent a couple of seconds too long thinking about it.

But when she stepped into her room, Anju walking over to her computer put on the soundtrack to Skyward, Zelda was happy that they had gone with her. Despite being so tired that she might just throw herself onto her bed and sleep for a week, having her friends with her did feel great, especially when they began to chatter about everything and nothing, the sound helping her both to relax and to stay awake.

"So, Hylian. Does anyone know what we are supposed to do?" Midna asked, having already made herself at home at Zelda's desk, having simply sat down on the table as she pulled out her laptop from her backpack.

"I think we are supposed to pick a legend, try to figure out what the themes are, and say something about how we can find stuff like that represented in modern books as well," Anju suggested with a shrug, "but I'm not sure."

"I'm with Anju on that one," Cremia declared, "what about you, Zelda?"

"Yeah, I think we were supposed to pick a theme from one of the legends and then compare how it was handled in the legend with how the theme is being handled today."

Midna snorted. "Well, as long as we simply use some fancy words we can't go wrong then. We can just quote Mrs. Marie's words back to her, 'as long as you can argue for your point, there are no wrong answers,' man, I never thought I would love that she says things like that all the time, but here we are."

"I think you need some good examples and an argument that makes sense."

"Eh," Midna waved at Zelda, "I'll just make something up, it got me this far, didn't it?"

"You almost failed most of your tests in Hylian last year," Anju reminded her.

"Yeah, because I don't care much for the grammar. As long as people can understand me, why does it matter? Mrs. Marie said it herself, as long as we can make up an argument that support our point, we can't be completely wrong."

"I'm pretty sure she didn't mean it like that," Zelda laughed.

Midna opened her mouth to answer her, but stopped before she got to say anything to instead sing along to the chorus of Ghost Attack, effectively bringing an end to the discussion. One by one, Anju, Cremia, and Zelda joined her as well, all four of them continuing singing along as Ballad of the Goddess began as well. For a moment, Zelda was able to relax completely and just enjoyed being in the company of the people she could be sure would not judge her for her voice or her lack of acting abilities.

The song came to an end and before the next got a chance to begin, Zelda went over her laptop to turn off the sound.

"Hey!" Midna exclaimed, gesturing towards her. "The music!"

"I don't think that it helps us be productive. And we have something we need to do. Come on, Midna, you should really know how important it is to keep your grades up so that they will allow you to be in the musical."

"Why do you always have to be right?"

Zelda smirked. "I don't know, I just am. Now, let's look at those legends!"

"I don't understand why we have to eat so many potatoes!" Cremia exclaimed the second time her potato peeler slipped out of her hand, hitting her thumb and creating a small cut in the process, making her have to get up from her stool to rinse it. "I mean, I know that carbs are important and all that, but why can't we just eat bread? Or pasta? Anything that doesn't require us to spend an hour just getting the potatoes ready to be boiled."

"Are you sure you're not just jealous that Zelda and I are much better at this than you are?" Ilia teased her, pointing over at the piles of peeled potatoes next to herself and Zelda, both of them already much bigger than Cremia's.

Cremia just picked up another potato and pretended to throw it after Ilia who ducked and laughed as Cremia began to peel the potato, a bit quicker than she had done before.

"Why would I be jealous? Is potato peeling really that important for any of us?"

"It's an important skill if you don't want to end up being alone forever."

"Oh, yeah, because when I asked Anju if she wanted to go on a date with me for the first time, I totally let the fact that I'm very good at peeling potatoes slip into the conversation!" Cremia shot back, not taking her eyes off the potato.

"I hope you didn't because that would have been a lie!" Ilia commented, her own movements getting slower and slower, until she held the potato peeler perfectly still.

Zelda used the chance to add another potato to her rapidly growing pile. If Ilia and Cremia wanted to discuss whether or not it was actually a crucial skill to be able to peel a kilo of potatoes in under an hour, Zelda was going to use the chance to beat both of them and get done with it before them.

"Perhaps you can use that on Hilda," Cremia said. She had completely stopped using her potato peeler to actually peel the potatoes, instead using it to point at Ilia, "tell her that, unlike your roommate, you can actually peel potatoes without being at risk for an injury." she paused, as both she and Zelda could see how Ilia looked down at her potato peeler like she was contemplating it. "Ilia, you can't seriously be considering using that line!"

"Well, it would at least make her think that I'm funny, wouldn't it?" Ilia argued, her face turning redder.

Cremia shook her head. "Goddesses, you need to talk to her, the sooner the better, I can't deal with this for much longer. Zelda, please, tell her that she needs to ask Hilda out on a date soon!"

"I feel like I don't really know enough about what is going on here to really be of any help," Zelda said, holding her hands up in front of herself, "so if you could let me stay out of it, then that would be very much appreciated."

"But you're with me, right? You also think that Ilia should take this up with Hilda instead of constantly asking me what to do?"

Before Zelda had a chance to repeat that she knew almost nothing about Hilda and Ilia and wasn't really fit to give any advice on the subject, Ilia cut in. "Wait, what about this: I ask her in a few weeks when we begin to block the musical? I mean, I have to be there because of the Loftwing and all that, maybe I could ask her then."

"If you swear that you won't just back out again, I might actually help you with that plan."

"Really?" Ilia looked over at Cremia, her eyes widening slightly.

"Sure, it's just as much in my interest as it is in yours, If you end up with Hilda and don't have to constantly tell me about how she may have looked at you in class and whether or not I think that means something then I might actually get another hour of sleep each night," Cremia said, winking at her.

"But if she says no, then you know that I'm going to cry about it every night for the next month, you know that right?" Ilia shot back. "Are you really ready for that?"

Both Ilia and Cremia had completely stopped working, both of them having placed their potato peeler back on the table next to them as they didn't even try to pretend that they were still thinking about dinner. At least they were hidden away in the corner towards the back of the kitchen, so Zelda was almost completely sure that, should Henya return to see how they were doing, Cremia and Ilia would have time to pick up their peelers again so that it would look like they were actually doing something other than chit-chatting with each other and complaining about the task they had been given.

Cremia leant back on her chair, the lack of a chair back almost making her fall backwards off the chair. "I'm ready for you to finally do something about the situation with Hilda. I mean, you're just like—" she interrupted herself, and, for a moment, Zelda was almost convinced that she saw Cremia glance over at her, but then Cremia continued, "you're a bit like I was when I was planning to ask out Anju. Farore, it got so awkward when she asked me if I wanted to go over our lines for the musical together." Cremia chuckled to herself. "Almost as awkward as I felt when she told me that she had tried to send signals for a long time and that she had been so sure that I didn't reciprocate her feelings when I didn't say something while we went over our lines. Speaking of the musical, how's it going with the Loftwing?"

"Oh, it's going well. You know, other than the fact that it's red and that it looks like a giant bird, the legends don't really give us a lot of description to work with, and even then the descriptions wary wildly depending on the source, so I can pretty much decide for myself what the bird is going to look like. Well, I can, as long as Robbie still thinks he can manage to implement the motors into it so that we can control it during the show." Ilia nudged Zelda in the ribs, making her almost drop the potato she had just picked up in surprise. "But don't worry; I'm not going to make it look scary or anything, so there's nothing for you to be worried about when you have to stand next to it. In fact, I'm basing it of my horse, so it's going to be the cutest thing you have ever seen—or as cute as it can be when it's meant to serve a goddess."

"Not everyone is in love with horses like you are, Ilia," Cremia said, making Ilia frown at her, a crease appearing between her eyebrows.

"Well, some people are wrong."

Zelda looked over at the pot of still unpeeled potatoes placed on the floor between the three of them and decided that, since they were getting close to reaching the bottom of it, she allow herself a little pause as well just like Ilia and Cremia had done. She looked over at Ilia who was still busy telling Cremia about the wonders of horses, Cremia just shaking her head at her, making Ilia even more adamant that horses were the best animals in the world.

"Wait, do you have a horse?" Zelda asked, making Ilia's eyes lit up and Cremia groan.

"Yes, back at home in Ordon, her name is Epona and she's so sweet. Well, she did have a habit of throwing off beginners, but she doesn't do that anymore, at least not too much. If I had my phone, I could maybe show you some pictures of her," Ilia said, not stopping to breathe even once.

Cremia just looked over at Zelda with an exasperated look. "Look at what I have to deal with every day."

Ilia just hit her lightly on the shoulder with the butt of her potato peeler. "And I have to deal with you as well, we all have it tough."

"Hey!"

Zelda smiled at them before turning to look over at the door. The sound of footsteps were approaching, and she barely had time to hiss at the others that they had to get back to work before Henya had opened the door and stepped into the kitchen. Muttering a low curse, Cremia promptly moved to use the cover that the table between herself and Henya provided to pick up her peeler once again and grab a potato from the pot before beginning to peel it furiously, Ilia doing the same next to her.

"How is it going with the potatoes?" Henya asked as she walked over to look down into the pot. At the sight of it being nearly empty, she sent them one of her rare smiles. "Almost finished I see. Good, I knew I could count on you. Well, then I guess I'll just leave you with the potatoes for a couple of minutes more." she turned around and left as quickly as she had appeared, Cremia letting out an audible sigh of relief.

"Oh, Farore, do you think we will get put on kitchen-duty even more now?" Cremia groaned. "We should have been slower, that way they would think we sucked at this!"

"Are you saying we should have pretended to be bad at this even though we are not? Cremia, I thought you were all about telling the truth!" Ilia said, throwing another peeled potato over to her stack.

"Not when it means more work for us."

"I don't think that's how it works," Zelda interjected, "you know that preparing the food is something everyone has to help with once in a while, and you have seen the schedule that Oshus sent out in the beginning of the year, detailing when we had to help in the kitchen, right? They can't change that now."

"Wait, what schedule?"

"Oh, so _that's_ why you're always late!" Ilia laughed. "You didn't know you had to be here." when Cremia nodded, a grave expression on her face, Ilia wiggled her brows at her. "And it has nothing at all to do with the fact that you hate peeling potatoes, nothing at all."

"I don't know what you're talking about; I would never be late on purpose. Besides, everyone hates having to peel potato after potato!"

"Perhaps, but while you two have been bickering, I have actually peeled the last potato," Zelda said with a grin as she pointed first at the empty pot and then at the large pile of potatoes next to her.

"Zelda, you're amazing!" Cremia exclaimed, already moving to put her potato peeler away.

"So I've been told."

"Can we leave now, then?" Ilia asked as she and Zelda began to scoop the peeled potatoes back into the pot.

"I guess." Cremia said, "Henya didn't tell us to do anything else."

"But is that really the same as giving us permission to leave? Shouldn't we wait and ask if there's any other task left" Zelda said.

"I don't know, but I'm not going to stay down here any longer. Look, my hands have gotten that gross potato water all over them," Cremia held up her hands to show them how the tip of her fingers had gone all wrinkly, "and I really want to wash it off. So are you guys coming?"

Ilia nodded and took a step towards Cremia, but Zelda stayed where she was.

"You guys can just leave, I just have to ask if it's okay," she said, sending them a smile and gesturing towards the door.

Cremia looked between Zelda and the door a few times before walking over to sit down on her stool once more. "Well, I'm waiting with you then."

"You don't have to, it fine—"

"No, I'm staying," Cremia, a definite tone in her voice, "what about you, Ilia?"

"Sure, if you guys are going to wait for Henya to say that we are done here, then I'm doing the same." Ilia said, also going to sit back down.

Although she did feel slightly guilty for not wanting to leave with Cremia and Ilia, Zelda could not deny the warm feeling that bloomed in her chest as they both waited with her the few minutes it took before Henya got back to inspect the potatoes for a moment before telling them that everything was fine and that they could leave. She was aware of the fact that it had only been a question of waiting for five minutes, but still. They had waited for her.


	6. Chapter 6

After her talk with Ilia and Cremia—or rather, after the conversation between Cremia and Ilia that Zelda had ended up overhearing due to having to be in the kitchen with them to help prepare dinner—Zelda tried to keep and extra close eye at the people that were present during the rehearsal that Wednesday. She had no recollection of ever talking to someone named Hilda, knew next to nothing about her save for how Zelda was pretty sure that she was a third-year student like herself, but when it came to what to look for to identify Hilda, Zelda was stumped. Or at least she was, until Kass told Hilda that she had to come in earlier in Life in Ruins, mentioning her by name, and Zelda realised that Hilda was the one playing the cello almost right behind her.

Zelda had to constantly remind herself not to just turn around and try to drop subtle hints to Hilda that Ilia might have a crush on her. Both because that was not any of Zelda's business and she didn't even know Ilia all that much, but also because Zelda knew herself well enough to know that her trying to be subtle would most likely only lead to her telling Hilda everything she knew.

So Zelda kept quiet, even though the universe seemed to be determined to give her every chance to end up telling Hilda everything.

Only one day after Zelda found out exactly who Hilda was, her history teacher brought up the subject of the planned school trip to the local museum in Kakariko Village. And because teachers always seemed to choose the worst possible moments to try to bring their students together, he had talked to the other third-year history teacher and they had agreed that their classes should go on a school field trip to Kakariko together.

That was how Zelda came to spend most of the bus ride to Kakariko trying to discreetly crane her neck to look over at Ilia and then at Hilda, trying to figure out if there was anything she could do to help Ilia. However, all of that only lasted for about five minutes. Then, Midna leant over in her seat to ask Zelda if there was anything wrong, and Zelda, not feeling like it was alright to go ahead and tell everyone about Ilia's crush, had to make up a quick excuse. Given how little time she had, it ended up being ridiculous, and Zelda could see how Midna was obviously not convinced that Zelda just wanted to watch the landscape next to the road. But at least she didn't ask when Zelda had suddenly fallen in love with the view. Instead, she leant back and was fast asleep not even a minute later, slumping over to rest her head against Zelda's shoulder.

Once they arrived, Gaepora mercifully split up the classes, guiding his own class over towards the entrance to the museum, leaving his colleague behind with the rest of the students.

"Listen class," he instructed while making sure that they were all present and that they hadn't forgotten anyone on the bus, "this is an educational trip. We aren't here for fun—or at least we aren't here _just_ for fun—so I have prepared some worksheets that you will have to work on while at the museum." a few of Zelda's classmates groaned at that, making him add. "It's nothing that you can't find the answer to here at the museum and it's only meant to make you realise how much you are learning while you are here. Now, I want you to split up into groups of two and then grab a piece of paper for each group. Once I'm sure that everyone has a partner, you can go into the museum and choose how you want to progress through the questions. Just remember that this is a museum so act accordingly, understood?" a tired expression passed over Gaepora's face as only a handful of the students in front of him nodded at his words. But he tried to put on a smile. "Good."

"We will do it together, won't we?" Anju had walked up behind Zelda and Midna, holding Cremia's hand. Even without Cremia following along with Anju, Zelda would already have known whom Anju had chosen as her partner.

"Sure!" Midna nodded. "Right, Zelda?"

"Of course."

While Midna went over to get two worksheets as well as pencils for the group from Gaepora, Anju, Cremia, and Zelda walked to the overview of the museum to try to get an idea of how to handle the task of having to go through the entire museum to get the answers for the worksheet. It wasn't exactly easy, and Zelda doubted that she was the only one who was to blame for that. The map looked like it had been specifically designed to be confusing, completely lacking an indicator of where they currently were situated, the way the walls had been drawn making it almost impossible to see what was an exhibition and what was a wall, and doors apparently being non-existent according to the map, even though Zelda could see that they were standing right next to one.

"How's it going?" Midna asked, suddenly standing right behind them. "Any idea of where to start?"

Zelda just glanced over at Anju and Cremia for a moment, both of them looking as lost as she felt.

"No, we have absolutely no idea where anything is in here," Anju admitted.

Not appearing to be too troubled by the lack of a plan, Midna just made a dismissive gesture. "Then we will just start here and make up a route as we go. Now, let's see how many questions we can guess the answer to." She glanced down at the piece of paper she was holding for a moment before letting out an excited yell that made the receptionist glare daggers at her. "It's all multiple-choice," Midna said, completely ignoring the harsh stare, "and not just that, most of these questions are related to the musical—we don't even have to go through the entire museum to find the answers to those."

"Are you sure that we know the answers?" Anju asked.

"Completely. Just try to guess this one," Midna made her voice deeper as she began to read from the worksheet, "what was the name of the man who, according to the legends, had the Hero imprisoned despite the Hero having broken no laws, something that almost led to the fall of Hyrule until the man was killed by the demons and the Hero was freed? Is it Orville, Dagianis, or Hylia?"

"Okay, that is almost laughably easy," Anju admitted, "it's Dagianis, isn't it`?"

"Exactly."

"That's good. Would have been a bit awkward if I got it wrong so soon after saying that it was an easy question," Anju laughed while she accepted the pencil and worksheet that Midna was handing her, turning around and placing the paper against the wall to get a flat surface to write on, before signing the paper with her own as well as Cremia's name.

"It sure would." Midna said as she joined her. Moments later, she had finished writing her own and Zelda's name on the bottom of the paper, and she turned around to face the doors leading into the next room. "Okay, are we going?"

They all nodded and followed Midna as she pushed the door open.

If Zelda had feared that the questions would grow more and more difficult until they would reach a level where she had to search the museum for the only place where they could find the answer, she soon found that fear to be completely unfounded.. Even though the questions started to get difficult for Zelda about halfway through the worksheet, Midna kept reading them to herself, chuckling for a moment, before marking the answer with a flick of her wrist. It couldn't be clearer that she was not finding the worksheet challenging at all, and since she sounded like she enjoyed reading the questions aloud for them only to immediately answer it herself and make sure that Anju was ticking off the same boxes, Zelda didn't feel too bad about the fact that Midna was doing all of the work.

Besides, it also left her able to fully enjoy the different exhibitions. As Midna seemed to know all the answers, they didn't need to search the museum in an attempt to find the answers and could instead walk at their own pace.

In one of the rooms in the middle of the museum—or at least Zelda had an idea that it might be located in the middle, as the maps on the walls didn't get any easier to read—they spotted a corner dedicated to modern portrayals and adaptations of the ancient legends, at least if the text on the wall above it was to be trusted. But that wasn't what made them stop, jaws dropping. That was instead the giant logo for Skyward located between the text on the wall and the display itself. Behind the glass separating them from the items on display, Zelda could see multiple old and faded garments. She couldn't be sure as she was not close enough to read the little plaquette in front of the clothes, but from the look of it, it seemed to be the costumes for the original run of Skyward.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I think I'll just spend the rest of my time over here," Midna said as she strolled over to lean against the glass, having already shoved the worksheet into the pocket of her dress.

Knowing full well that they were not going to be able to finish the worksheet without Midna, Zelda felt that it was completely justified that she also went over to look at the costumes. They could not get the work done without Midna, so now that she had decided to stay in the room, Zelda could just as well do the same. It was a bad excuse for not working, but, right then, it was convincing enough for Zelda.

It seemed the same was the case for Anju and Cremia as both of them came over to join Zelda and Midna moments later.

The costumes in front of them were beautiful, no doubt about it. Zelda could see each individual strand of silvery thread that had been embroidered to decorate Hylia's dress. The strands ran through the entire dress, though some of them changed directions or curled to create a spiralling pattern on the dress, the lamps that were hanging from the ceiling making the whole thing shine. It didn't exactly give of the illusion of the dress being made of pure light even though that fact had been mentioned multiple times in almost every translation of the ancient legends, but Zelda could easily imagine that it had been a magnificent sight when the actress had been wearing it on stage, all lights on her in an otherwise quite dark room. Of course, the flipside of it all would be that the dress had to be quite heavy—a little over 4 kilos if the information written on the little plaquette next to the mannequin was correct. Zelda couldn't imagine how someone could be expected to wear it, sing, and move around with the grace expected for a goddess, and even though the dress was beautiful, she couldn't help but feel a bit relieved that there was no way the school musical would have the funds to make costumes like that dress.

Zelda was not the only one who had fallen in love with the costumes, at least not judging from the way that Midna was looking at the tunic exhibited next to the goddess' dress.

When she noticed Zelda looking at her, Midna pointed at the garment. "Look, isn't it beautiful?"

The tunic was not beautiful the same way the dress was—elegant and regal. But it certainly did convey how the Hero had been imprisoned for years and that the people had wanted to apologise to him through the tunic. According to the text about the Hero's costume, the chainmail that Zelda could spot underneath the green fabric was in fact real—making the tunic even heavier than the dress.

"Of course. But it must also be quite heavy. Just the dress weighs four kilos, and it doesn't also consist of chainmail," Zelda said, gesturing towards the plaquette.

"Bah, I'm sure you get used to it. Besides, Nayru looked so at ease while she was on stage, and she was a lot smaller than you."

"Nayru?" Zelda repeated. "Wasn't she the one playing Hylia in that awful movie adaptation of the legend?"

"We don't talk about the movie," Midna said, placing her hand above her heart, feigning an overly exaggerated gesture of being hurt, "but yes, you're right. She was the only good thing about the movie and also the only one in the entire cast who could actually sing. But before she got involved in that entire mess, she played Hylia during Skyward's initial run. She really was amazing," Midna got a dreamy look in her eyes as she looked back over at the dress on display, "I've only watched videos of her—she moved on the other projects before I got the chance to see a show with her as Hylia—but she is definitely the best one there is. Apart from you, of course." Midna blinked at Zelda, who tried not to laugh.

"I don't think I really want to compete against her. She sounds like she was… out of this world."

"Well, I mean, she does share her name with a goddess."

"You know what I meant!"

"Uh," Cremia broke in, making them remember that she and Anju were still there, "I think we have to begin to head back to the entrance soon. Maybe we should look at the last couple of questions?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," Midna said as she pulled the piece of paper out of her pocket again to go over the rest of the worksheet, occasionally checking with Cremia to make sure that she got everything right.

Meanwhile, Anju looked at Midna, then at Cremia, and then back at Midna again, frowning slightly. Zelda couldn't understand why, she had seemed fine with letting Midna answer the worksheets before, why should she suddenly want to do it herself now and why would she not just say so to Cremia? Zelda really didn't understand it.

Midna finished the worksheet, informing them that Hylia had in fact not been able to fly on her own in the legends and that that was something that had been made up by some versions of the musical due to technical limitations for the Loftwing and then spread until a pretty big part of the musical community took it for being a fact, and then they set out towards the entrance to the museum to find the rest of their class.

They found Gaepora waiting for them at the doors, but the rest of their classmates were nowhere to be seen.

"They're in the souvenir shop," Gaepora told them when he noticed the way they were looking around the room, "you're welcome to join them, just please remember to be back here in time for the bus." he pointed at a set of glass doors at the opposite end of the room. Once Zelda knew where to look, she could see her classmates moving around between the shelves of trinkets, postcards, and other kinds of keepsakes on the other side.

"We will," Midna promised before walking over towards the doors, Zelda, Anju, and Cremia following right behind her.

The moment Midna pushed against the left glass door, holding it open to let them all get through, Zelda could hear just how noisy it was inside. Taking a deep breath as if that would help her block out the sound, she headed inside, the fear of being left behind being greater than her need for quiet surroundings.

One quick look at the shelf closest to her showed that it was just the normal souvenir shop things—snow globes with little figurines, most of them made to look like either Hylia or the Hero, cookie cutters, postcards, pencils, and other things that would most likely be doomed to a fate of being bought and then immediately lost.

"Midna," Zelda said as she pointed to show her a particularly ugly cookie cutter. It looked like it was supposed to make the dough look like a Loftwing, but it looked more like a horribly mangled house to Zelda.

No one answered her, and when Zelda turned around she saw that her friends had walked off, leaving her alone. She could see Anju and Cremia standing in the opposite corner of the store. The two looked like they were in the middle of telling a joke, Anju laughing as she leant against Cremia, having placed her hand on Cremia's shoulder to help her stay upright. Zelda didn't want to go over only to interfere and be in the way, and since she couldn't see where Midna had gone, she stayed where she was, trying not to feel hurt that they had just left her like that.

All of a sudden, the souvenirs on the shelf behind her looked more sad than hilarious, but Zelda still couldn't tear her gaze away from a snow globe with the figurine of Hylia inside. The tiny figure looking like it had been partially melted, and the paint was a mess. She didn't need it and Zelda knew from experience that buying things when she was sad would only lead to her becoming sad again every time she would look at it. So she left it, even though she felt a pang of guilt leaving it behind knowing that there would probably not be someone who would want to buy it given the way it looked.

At least, it didn't take long before she had to leave the store to head back towards the bus that would take them all back to the boarding school in time for lunch.

As Zelda began to make her way to the museum's front door, she did notice Anju and Cremia walking in front of her. Cremia had her arm draped around Anju's waist, and Anju would look up at Cremia from time to time with a love-struck look in her eyes. Had it not been for the fact that she was walking behind them and that there was no way they could see her, Zelda would have thought that they did it specifically to send the message that they did not want to talk with her, as they would look at each other and giggle a little every time Zelda had decided to go over and follow them to the bus. The more it happened, Zelda felt just a little bit more like an unwanted third wheel. Had Midna been there with her, it would have been okay and they could have joked about how Anju and Cremia were disgustingly adorable together. But even though she walked past most of her classmates, Zelda did still not see Midna. She just hoped that Midna had heard how they were supposed to go to the bus. Even though being left behind by her friends felt horrible, it would feel even worse to be forgotten at the Kakariko Museum, Zelda was sure of that, and not just because there was nothing to do at the museum.

It turned out that there had been no reason for Zelda to worry about that.

She found Midna sitting in the same spot she had sat in when the bus had taken them to the museum in the first place—that meant directly next to Zelda's seat. When she noticed Zelda standing next to her, Midna smiled at her like nothing had happened and got up to let her get the seat directly next to the window. Zelda tried to not let down the façade as she slipped past Midna and into her seat, keeping a fake smile plastered on her face. Surely, there was a reason that all of her friends had left her at the first opportunity they had received without even bothering to tell her.

"Zelda, there you are!" Midna said, sounding genuinely happy to see her despite having abandoned her minutes earlier. Zelda didn't know what would have been worse; this or if Midna had seemed bored. "How was the souvenir shop, did you buy anything in there?"

"It was fine, I guess. A bit like every other souvenir shop: a lot of stuff that you would never actually need, a good place to waste money," Zelda said, feeling a lot like her mother, "so no, I didn't buy anything."

"Good. Because I found something in there that I think you'll find to be something other than a waste of money. Here." Midna reached down into her pocket and pulled out a little package.

Zelda looked at it. It looked like Midna had decided to work with what she had—and that the souvenir shop had apparently not offered to wrap it there—as the present was wrapped up in a couple of napkins held together with tape. On the side of the package, Zelda could see how Midna had attempted to write 'to Zelda' with a pencil before giving up and just writing it with a marker instead.

She didn't realise that she had been staring at the present, not doing anything to reach out and accept it, until Midna gently nudged her with it. "Take it. It's for you."

"Oh, thanks."

She must have looked scared of breaking the content of the present, because Midna pointed at it. "Don't worry; it's not going to break that easily. Now, open it!"

Despite how Zelda tried to pry the tape off the napkin without tearing up the latter, she couldn't keep it completely intact and—almost as if the universe wanted to show her exactly that—the last piece of tape stuck to the napkin, ripping it in half as Zelda tried to remove it, letting the content inside fall into her lap.

It was some kind of necklace or bracelet.

Zelda lifted up it, holding it in front of her face. The chain reflected the light coming in through the dirty bus windows, the length of it telling her that it was a necklace rather than a bracelet.

"Wow," she breathed, "it's beautiful—"

"Look at the pendant!"

Zelda looked down at the middle of the chain. A little pendant was dangling there. It was barely bigger than her nail, but Zelda could still see that it was supposed to look like a lyre even if the right side of it was a bit deformed and had an indent on the other side.

"A lyre?" Zelda asked, looking over at Midna for confirmation.

Midna nodded. "Yes. Or, well, technically it's the Goddess Harp, but we all know that it's a lyre in every adaptation known to man, but it doesn't really matter." when she noticed the confused look Zelda was sending her, Midna added. "I bought it to commemorate you getting the role of Hylia. It's her instrument and all that—it was even called Goddess Necklace in the souvenir shop."

"Wait, you bought this right now?" Zelda said.

"Yup. I was a bit nervous that you were going to come over and see what I was doing, but I managed to stay hidden. So, what do you think about it?"

What Zelda was feeling about the whole thing could mostly be described as a flooding sense of relief. Midna had not decided to dump her at the first opportunity she been given in the museum, and she had not tried to hide from Zelda to get out of having to spend time with her. But as Zelda looked over at Midna's excited face, for once not hidden behind a layer of indifference and sarcastic remarks, she knew that she could not tell Midna that she had actually feared that she had left her. Besides, now that Zelda knew the truth, it was easy to brush it off, put it down to how stressful the visit to the museum had been for her along with having to keep track of everyone else to ensure that she would get back to the bus in time.

"I think it's beautiful," Zelda said, "thank you."

"Oh, it's nothing," Midna said, though Zelda noticed how she let out a little, relived sigh, "I just saw it and thought 'hey, that's inspired by Hylia, and Zelda is playing Hylia. It would be a fun little thing to give her.' But… do you want me to help you put it on?"

"Yes, that would be nice."

Zelda turned around as much as her seat allowed her to, trying to sit with her back turned towards Midna.

The metal was cold against her skin and Zelda just hoped that she wouldn't turn out to be allergic to anything in the necklace as she held up her hair to let Midna fasten it before adjusting the chain to make sure that the little lock would be hidden away underneath her hair.

"Okay," Midna said, "it's on."

Letting go of her hair, Zelda turned back around to look over at Midna. "How does it look?"

"Gorgeous. It really brings out your eyes." Midna bit her lip as she looked back up. "Exactly like I knew it would. You know, Zelda, you should let me buy all of your clothes and accessories from now on; I think I did a pretty good job here."

"I agree with the second half, but I do still think that I'm better than you at picking out clothes for myself."

"How can you be so sure of that? You've never tried to let me buy you anything."

"Nope, but I've tried on the things you have picked out for me when we have gone shopping together," Zelda said, "do I need to remind you of that purple shirt you told me would look amazing on me?"

Midna smiled faintly. "Well, I was right, wasn't I?"

"If it wasn't for the fact that it turned out to be practically see-through once I put it on I would perhaps have agreed with you, but it was so close to being see-through that I don't."

"Okay, I'll admit that wasn't one of my proudest moments," Midna admitted, "but at least I learnt my lesson after that and began to check it by holding anything I wanted to show you up against the light before you actually put it on. And that's something, isn't it?"

"I guess, but I can still hear how Cremia laughed at me when I excited the dressing room and how you just looked mildly horrified," Zelda teased her, giving Midna a nudge in the ribs.

"If it's any consolation, I wasn't looking horrified because of you, I was looking horrified because I knew that it would lead to you never trusting me about clothes again."

"Really? Because that makes it _so_ much better."

"Yeah."

Just then, Gaepora got on the bus, looking through the rows of students to make sure that everyone was there before walking back to collect all of their worksheets and tell them that they had behaved better than he had expected them to.

"Okay, but was that a compliment or an insult?" Midna whispered to Zelda as the bus began to move, taking them back home to the boarding school.

Zelda just laughed. Before long, she could feel how the soothing and repetitive movement of the bus was making her sleepy, and with her head rested against Midna's shoulder, it didn't take long before she was fast asleep.

One of the perks of doing her best to stay on top on her homework was that Zelda often got the chance to simply lie on her bed for a few minutes in the evening. Maybe it was not the most productive thing to do in her spare time, but Zelda enjoyed the peace and calm that would fill her once she got the chance to simply lie down in her room, completely uninterrupted. Once, Midna had suggested that she might enjoy meditating, but after Zelda had tried it for a week, she could safely say that she was not really a fan of _having_ to do something even if that something was to just relax and listen to the podcast Midna had recommended to her. So once she had done her best to give it a chance for a week, she was back to simply lying on her back in her bed and staring up into the ceiling while mentally going over everything that had happened that day.

After the hectic day at the museum and the panic that had been about to take over when she had though she had been abandoned by her friends, Zelda really needed those few moments to regain her composure. Luckily, it seemed that Anju could sense that, and the moment they arrived back in their dorm that evening after having eaten dinner, she announced that she would go to Cremia's dorm, leaving Zelda alone in the room.

Holding the lyre shaped pendant up in front of her face to look at the little piece of metal, Zelda wondered if she should call her mum. Hearing her mum talk about Tetra and what was going on at home was almost certain to help her take her mind off the day's events. But the thing was that nothing really had happened, at least not other than Zelda having been stressed out enough to panic over the fact that, for a few seconds, she had been separated from her the museum. Zelda doubted that her mum would agree with her if she told her that, Impa would no doubt insist that it was still important, say that Zelda should feel able to talk with her about anything, but Zelda knew that compared to everything else that was happening in her mum's life, Tetra's swimming competitions, her job, and the musical that Zelda could see her mum was trying to get tickets to see—or at least she had accidentally sent a couple of texts about it meant for Daphnes to Zelda—Zelda having been close to just sitting down and cry in the museum lobby was a minor thing.

So instead, Zelda looked back at the pendant. The metal was no longer cold, having been warmed up by Zelda wearing it all afternoon, so she could feel the warmth radiating from it. When Zelda closed her eyes, she could pretend that the little lyre really was the goddess' harp, connecting her with Hylia. Of course it was way too small for that to have been the case, just like the pendant was made solely from some kind of metal, but it nice to think that she had something in common with the goddess she was supposed to embody in the musical on a stage in front of heaps and heaps of people in just a few weeks.

Zelda opened her eyes and inspected the chain a bit closer. She couldn't figure out exactly what kind of metal had been used in it, and just hoped that it didn't contain nickel. Throughout her entire childhood, Impa had constantly reminded Zelda of the importance of not having nickel in anything, so she was aware of how it was not a good idea to keep any kind of jewellery she wasn't sure didn't contain nickel. But even though Zelda technically agreed with her mum, she knew that even in the event that the necklace would turn out to contain nothing but nickel, she would still keep it. Even though she had only had about two minutes alone in her room, less than she usually had to use and even less than she would have used after such an experience that the museum had been, she was already feeling more energetic, and Zelda was sure that the necklace had something to do with that.


	7. Chapter 7

"Zelda!"

She woke up to find Anju standing over her, shaking her by the shoulder while repeating her name over and over.

"Yes?" Zelda mumbled, though she doubted that Anju understood any of it.

"You forgot to set your alarm clock, I just woke up!"

That made Zelda wake up. In an instant, she had sat up in her bed, her heart already beating frantically at the thought of being late for class.

"What?" Zelda exclaimed. She would have liked to say that she remained calm, but that would have been nothing but a lie; her voice was shaking, and she instinctively looked over at the window, only for her stomach to sink towards the floor as she saw the rays of sun coming in through the thin curtains.

"You were already asleep when I came back here last night, and I thought that you had set your alarm clock so I just let you sleep—"

"No, no, I got that," Zelda said, swinging her legs out of the bed, the rest of her body following. For a few seconds, the room was spinning. She had gotten up way too fast, but right then, Zelda didn't care at all. Instead, she stumbled into the bathroom, trying to force her eyes to adapt to the harsh, white light quicker than they wanted to as she searched for her toothbrush.

"How much time do I have?" she yelled through the door while forcing the last bit of toothpaste out of the tube.

"Well, you have about thirty-five minutes until we have to be in class—I have already texted Midna and Cremia not to wait for us, don't worry about it!" Anju yelled back, adding the last half when she noticed Zelda walking over to grab her phone.

It was only due to the fact that Zelda decided that not being late for her class was more important than personal hygiene and skipped her bath that she and Anju actually managed to run into the dining hall with a whole ten minutes left to eat breakfast before they had to sit in their seats in their classroom. About halfway through brushing her teeth, Zelda had woken up enough to realise that Anju was not leaving despite being much quicker to get ready than herself. Without really asking her, Zelda realised that Anju was waiting for her, the realisation making her have to stop for a few seconds to really absorb the fact that Anju was risking being late as well, before she hurried even more to not make Anju miss the class as well.

The dining hall was almost empty when they arrived. There were a couple of first-years who had not yet learnt that finding their classrooms was a bit of a puzzle due to the school's lack of logical naming systems for the rooms still sitting at one of the tables, gleefully unaware exactly how much they had to hurry if they wanted to get to class on time. But of course they weren't the only ones still left in the dining hall.

Sitting at their usual table in the far end of the dining hall, Zelda spotted Midna and Cremia looking over at her and Anju as they came racing into the room, Anju doing her best to adjust her hair while running.

Zelda came over to join Midna and Cremia at their table, Midna getting up to hand her a cup of steaming hot coffee.

"Anju wrote that you were running late," she said as Zelda accepted the cup with a smile, "so I thought that you might be tired when you would show up."

"Midna, you've just saved my life, thank you!"

They didn't exactly have time to eat a filling and nutritious breakfast and when they arrived back in time for lunch, Zelda could feel that her stomach had not been satisfied with the few mouthfuls of porridge she had found time to eat, but thanks to the coffee, at least she didn't fall asleep during class.

"Okay, everyone, we need to figure out who will be responsible for baking what, so if I read what cakes we have the ingredients for, then people can volunteer to bake whatever they want. I'm thinking groups of two or three will be the best for this, and remember: the better the cake, the more money we will make, and the better costumes the musical will have," Thelma said as she guided them all down towards the kitchen later that day.

She was walking with a lot more energy in her steps than Zelda thought was fair considering that most of the students following her looked like they just wanted to go back to sleep. As Zelda looked around, she got the feeling the Link was the only one who was actually looking forward to having to bake cakes to sell to their parents in the evening. Creating a stark contrast between him and the other students, the rest of the group where most of the students—Zelda included—were either yawning or clutching their cups of coffee like their life depended on it, while Link was chatting with Mipha, occasionally laughing loudly.

The staircase in the entrance hall creaked under them and a few of the first-year students looked down at the planks under their feet like they feared they could fall right through, edging towards the sides of the stairs to grab the rails, slowing them all down. But Thelma just continued walking at a pace that was just a little too quick for most of them, seemingly completely unaware that most of the students were not right behind her anymore. But still, they made it into the kitchen without losing anyone along the way.

Going over to stand in front of them all as the last couple of students entered the room and went to hide towards the back of the group, Thelma took in the sorry sight of the sleepy group. "Now, I know that you are all hoping for us to earn as much money at this bake sale as we can," Thelma began, retrieving a piece of paper from her pocket, "so I won't talk for too long so that we will end up not having enough time to actually bake the cakes. But I just wanted to remind all of you that this is not only a way to raise money for the musical, it's also a way for you to get to know each other, so maybe don't pick a partner that you already work together with every day." Zelda was almost completely sure that she saw Thelma look over at Anju and Cremia at that before she cleared her throat. "Good, now that's out of the way, we can begin to decide who will bake what. The first cake on my list is carrot cake, who wants to bake that?"

From the back of the group, Hilda and Ilia stepped forward. "We can do that, Hilda and I" Ilia said.

"Ilia and Hilda, carrot cake," Thelma mumbled to herself while writing something on her sheet of paper before looking back up, "Okay, you can do that over there," she pointed towards the table closest to her, "all of the ingredients are in the fridge, here is the recipe."

Hilda took the paper with the recipe on and went over to the table, Ilia following right behind her. Zelda looked at them, trying to decipher if perhaps Ilia had told Hilda. She wasn't really the best at that kind of thing, reading how people she did not already know were feeling, figuring out if people were together or not without them explicitly telling her—it had taken her months before she had figured out that the reason Anju had sometimes told her that she wanted to go to Kakariko with Cremia and only Cremia wasn't that Anju was bitter she had ended up having to share her dorm with Zelda, but rather that they had gone on a date—but she was pretty sure from the way that Hilda and Ilia were giggling at each other and standing just a bit closer at the table than necessary considering how they had plenty of space, that Ilia had told her something.

After she had made sure that Hilda and Ilia had understood what they were supposed to do, Thelma continued reading from her list. "And who'll make the chocolate cake?"

"That's an easy one, we can do that," Midna whispered to Zelda. Before Zelda had time to do anything and ask Midna if they didn't exactly qualify as 'people who already work together every day,' Midna had declared that she and Zelda could take care of the chocolate cake.

Thelma raised an eyebrow, and Zelda could see how she was agreeing with her on the fact that Zelda and Midna probably already knew each other pretty well. But after a couple of seconds of tense silence of Midna attempting to sway Thelma by sending her her brightest smile, Thelma just sighed and told them to stand on the opposite side of the table that Hilda and Ilia were standing at.

While being dragged behind Midna over to the table, Midna almost immediately dashing over to get the ingredients and the recipe, Zelda noticed how letting her and Midna work together had seemingly been the end for Thelma's idea of using the bake sale to bring people together and make them talk with someone they didn't usually hang out with as both Anju and Cremia as well as Link and Mipha used the same tactic of volunteering for a cake together and then smiling at Thelma. She couldn't help but feel a bit bad for the role she had played in that, but the feeling soon went away as Midna returned with arms full of milk, egg, sugar, flour, everything, having attempted to bring all of the ingredients back to the table in one go. Zelda had to hurry to catch a carton of milk as it slipped out of Midna's hand.

"Have you ever heard of this concept that's called 'don't try to take more at a time than you can actually carry'?" she asked after having just managed to save the milk in time.

"I have, but why waste our valuable time with that? Do you really think that if you ask someone on their deathbed what they are happy they did when they were younger, they would answer that they are glad that they always went back twice each time they had to transport anything from one place to another?" Midna said, placing the recipe between her and Zelda. "Because I know that I just want to get this over with."

"Oh, so it has nothing to do with you being lazy, it's just a question of your philosophy in life?"

"Perhaps," Midna replied with a smirk, "but since we have to do this, could you tell me what we're supposed to start off by doing?"

"Sure."

Zelda leant in over the page detailing just how they were supposed to add the ingredients and in what order the things should go into the bowl. It didn't take more than reading a couple of lines before Zelda realised that it was a completely different recipe, a completely different way of making chocolate cake than she had ever tried before. It seemed that the case was the same for Midna, at least if the two times that Zelda had to stop her from pouring the sugar in too early were anything to go by. The fact that she wasn't really sure exactly how the dough was supposed to look at the different stages of mixing the ingredients together was slowly making Zelda feel just a little bit stressed out over the entire thing. But at least she had Midna to count on, even if her friend was perhaps not the best and taking time to read through the recipe before doing anything.

When Zelda began to pour the dough up into the baking tin—the only one she had been able to find—stopping halfway through to go back and read the recipe again just to make sure that she had remembered everything, and Midna reached out to stop her, reminding her that she had already done that plenty of times and that there was nothing she could do now, should it turn out that they had forgotten something, Zelda was quite relieved that Midna had ruined Thelma's plans for making them all partner up with someone they didn't know beforehand.

And luckily, it seemed that she had not forgotten to add any of the ingredients, or at least the cake began to rise once in the oven exactly like the kind of chocolate cakes Zelda had used to bake with Tetra back at home, and as both Zelda and Midna crouched down to observe the process of the cake slowly looking less and less like dough, instead resembling the ones Zelda had baked at home, the entire idea of baking cakes while at school was beginning to seem less and less like it had been crafted only to make them feel as uncomfortable as possible.

Once all of the cakes had gotten done baking, Thelma made them carry all of them out to the tables that had been set up right outside the front door of the school, insisting that each team should carry the cake they had helped made. And for once, no one tried to argue or change partners. Zelda was pretty sure that part of it could be attributed to the fact that Thelma had spent the last twenty minutes pacing around the room, trying to tell them that everything was perfectly fine, despite it being clear to everyone that she was constantly looking at her watch and then over at the cakes while trying to figure out if they would get done in time for the parents to arrive.

But as Midna placed the cake down on the table, Zelda removing the dishtowel she had used to shield the cake from rain in the time it had taken Midna to get from the front door and over under the little tent that provided cover from the rain, they were still the only ones out there, no parents in sight yet.

"We made it." Thelma said with a relieved sigh as Link walked over to the last table, balancing with a tray of muffins. For a moment, she just looked at them like she had actually not thought they would manage to get so far, and then she got back to her usual cheerful behaviour. "So what you will have to do now is that you are responsible for the cake you have made, so you'll be in the exact same groups as earlier. I'm sure most of you are happy with that." she sent a glance towards a few of them. Zelda was sure that, had it not been for Thelma's little smile, she would have decided right then and there that bake sale was the worst and that she would never do anything like it ever again. Luckily, Thelma did smile. "The price is the same no matter what kind of cake your parents are interested in—ten Rupees to be exact—so just remember that and it can't go too wrong. Okay, according to my watch, there shouldn't be more than maybe five minutes until your parents will begin to arrive, and perhaps some of them will be a little early, so there's no point of having all of you go inside to wait for them."

Just as Thelma finished speaking, a car came around the corner, almost like it was trying to prove her point. One of the first-year students began to wave and Zelda could see how the woman driving the car—probably their mother—waved back before the car continued along the road heading towards the parking ground behind the school building itself.

They didn't have any chairs to sit on, and while Zelda decided to just stand up, Midna placed her hands on the edge of the table in front of them, shifting her weight to lean in over it.

"Okay," she said, looking over towards the school, "not that I don't enjoy spending time with you, Zelda, but I don't see why we have to stand out here in the rain without a chair to sit on when we could do all of this inside in the entrance hall. The result would be the same as it is now. Since the parents would come in through the front door, they would all be there to see our _amazing_ baking skills," she gestured towards the cake in front of them. One half of it had seemingly lost all of the air in the cake, making the top of the cake tilt to one side, "so it's not like we won't make as much money as we will by standing out here ."

"Perhaps it's to bring us closer together."

"How?"

"Well, you know, sometimes when people have been really cold together, they just… become better friends. There has to be something about it, why else would people decide to do stuff like trying to survive a weekend completely alone in a forest together? It has to be some sort of group exercise."

The very first customer had arrived and from the way that she immediately headed over the waving first-year student's table, Zelda was sure that the lady was the mother of the student.

Seeming quite relieved that they had not yet gotten their first customer yet, Midna shrugged. "But why even bother with a group exercise. The entire musical team is made up of this tiny group of people who have been in the club since their very first year here."

"I think you're forgetting me. I didn't join until this year."

"Oh yeah, sorry," Midna said, "you're right; it's made up of this group of people who have decided to suffer together and then you, someone who had otherwise managed to stay out of that despite all of your friends spending most of their spare time singing songs dangerously close to you. Speaking of which, why did you decide to join just now?"

"I don't know… I think that there was just something about this musical that really spoke to me, I guess. I don't really know, from what you and Anju and Cremia have told me about being in the school musical… it just sounded like it was something you were looking forward to more than anything." Zelda paused to look over at the other people. The stream of parents walking over towards the front door of the school, passing all of the tables with cake in the process, had increased, and most of them made sure to stop at a table to buy a piece of cake, a few of them pausing to chat with the students selling the cake before heading over to the school.

"Something in this musical spoke to you?" Midna repeated. "Hopefully, you are not planning to shed your divinity while I die in your arms and you mourn me."

Zelda laughed, the sound making the team at the table next to them turn around to look over at her. "No, at that point in the musical, you would already be dead, and I would already have left you."

"I see that joining the musical group hasn't robbed you of your title as the smartest one in school." Midna said, nudging Zelda.

"No, I couldn't let it do that, you know that would mean I would not be allowed to continue being in the musical."

"Nah, you need to actually fail your classes before they would threaten to not let you be here, trust me on that one. But for what it is worth, I'm happy that you are so determined not to let it happen, you know. I do enjoy spending time with you in rehearsal. You're a great Hylia."

Her face and ears were feeling warmer than they normally did; something Zelda knew meant that she was turning red. But before she had the chance to answer Midna, to tell her that she also liked being in rehearsal with her, it seemed that some of the parents had finally realised that chocolate cake was amazing even if the shape of the cake itself was not exactly perfect, as they suddenly got very busy with handing pieces of cakes wrapped in napkins over the table and counting Rupees. Zelda managed to let it turn into a rhythm of saying hello and thank you to the different people, doing it so automatically that it took her a moment before she realised that both her mum and dad had also arrived and were standing right in front of her asking for the price of a piece of cake.

"It's ten Rupees per piece," Midna told them, shooting Zelda a look like she couldn't believe that she hadn't noticed her parents arriving. To be completely honest, Zelda was also a bit perplexed by that. She hadn't exactly watched what cars had arrived, but she'd thought she wouldn't have to; with her parents insisting that a light blue car was the epitome of style, she had been sure she would be able to spot it the second it would turn around the corner. Apparently that was not the case.

"Then we'd like two pieces, thank you," Daphnes said, smiling as Midna accepted the Rupee and handed him the two pieces of cake in return.

"So," Impa said, looking over her shoulder, "it seems that we won't be in anybody's way over here, so let me ask you two, how has it been here? How's it going with the musical?"

"Oh, it's been going well, really well, in fact. You should see Zelda when we are in rehearsal; she really has quite a voice," Midna said, beaming at Zelda, "I mean, I knew that she was good and all that since she has a habit of singing when she thinks other people can't hear it even though they actually can, but I didn't know that she could also sing well when she knew other people were listening as well."

Impa looked over at Zelda with a look in her eyes that Zelda couldn't read. But then it was gone as Impa smiled at Midna. "Yeah, she has always been like that. You know, when she was little—back before you met her—she used to have these singing competitions, only she was the only one there so she was both the contestants and the judges, and then she'd just do different voices for the different contestants she would make up. I asked her if she was thinking about making her own talent show a couple of times, but she said that it was a secret. But since you could still hear her even if you were sitting in the living room, it really wasn't that big of a secret."

Midna began to laugh while Zelda just stared at her mother with a horrified look. "Mum! You can't just tell all of my secrets like that, especially not to my friends!"

"Sorry, Sweetheart," her mum said, though the laugh that followed the apology instantly made Zelda doubt that she actually meant it, "but it's just too sweet of a story not to share with other people." Right as Zelda was about to open her mouth to announce that that did still not mean that she could just tell her friends about some embarrassing thing she had done as a child, her mother looked over towards the school, gesturing towards Daphnes. "And I think we have to leave now. We have to find out if you are doing well in school, don't we? We don't want you not being able to be in the musical anymore just because your grades have dropped." and with that, Zelda's mother turned around and began to walk up towards the front door of the school, Daphnes following right behind her.

"Don't worry, Impa," Midna called out after her, "Zelda is still a genius!" she took a step back as Zelda pretended to punch her on the shoulder, still laughing at her. "What? It's the truth, you _are_ a genius. And a short one at that, way too short to have a chance of hitting me on the shoulder!"

After Zelda's mum and dad had left, the amount of parents arriving began to taper off and just about half an hour later, Thelma announced that there was no point in waiting anymore to see if there was anyone who had been really late, telling them all to pack up and that any leftover cake should go in the fridge in the kitchen. Zelda didn't miss the way she stared over at Link as she added that they were _under no circumstances_ supposed to try to eat the rest of the cake, making Link shrug his shoulders with an apologetic look on his face.

"If I take the cake, will you hold the doors for me?" Midna asked, making Zelda look back over at her.

"Of course."

There was quite a bit of pushing and shoving each other while being careful about not putting the cakes at risk of being dropped as they all tried to be the first to get to the kitchen and put their cake away, Zelda almost falling over as some tiny first-year students had pushed her way harder than Zelda would have thought she'd be capable of. As she rubbed the point on her arm where the girl's elbow had hit her, Midna just looked down at her with a small smile on her lips, allowing everyone to walk straight past her.

"Are you laughing at my pain?" Zelda asked, trying to sound hurt.

"Nope, but I am finding it hilarious how you just got pushed over by someone who's a lot smaller than you. I mean, Saria would kill me if she ever heard me call her small, but fact is that even you are taller than her."

"And now you've insulted us both, well done," Zelda laughed as she got back up, walking over to open the door leading into the kitchen for Midna.

Luckily, there was still a little bit of space left in the fridge for their half-eaten, slightly squished chocolate cake, even though they were the last team to get into the kitchen. But at least they were not the very last persons to get there. As Zelda looked at the rest of the students, she could see that none of them were moving to leave the kitchen. Instead, a few of them were leaning against the counters or sitting on the floor, clearly waiting for something. And even when Midna seemed to be confident that the leftover chocolate cake would not fall out of the fridge, slamming the fridge door behind her, she didn't take a single step towards the door.

"Thelma is going to tell us how it went," Midna said when she noticed Zelda's puzzled look, "hopefully, we've made more than we did last year. That year was a total disaster, we hadn't thought about the fact that it could begin raining, so we didn't have tents, and the cakes got ruined."

"Yeah, that definitely doesn't sound good," Zelda agreed.

"It wasn't., but, hey, we still sold more than we would have had it not been for the fact that we were selling the cakes to our parents. The joys of raising money through your parents, I guess."

A couple of minutes passed, people chatting softly, before Thelma stepped into the room, looking at them with a wide smile.

"Are anyone excited to see how it went for us today?" she didn't wait for them to answer before continuing. "Now, we have only had time to count the money once, so the real amount might turn out to be a little higher or lower once we have time to recount. But as of right now, it looks like we've raised a little over two thousand Rupees." there was the sound of people clapping. Midna even let out a little victorious yell before turning around to hug Zelda. From her spot in the middle of the crowd of happy students, Thelma went quiet, though her face revealed that she was just as excited as they were. "Yeah, it's really something, and I'm so proud of all of you. Just keep up the good work from now on, and I'm sure that this year's musical will be a success. And on that note, I think it's time for you guys to be allowed to get out of here so that you can have some time to calm down before some of you will have to see me again tomorrow for rehearsal."

The otherwise calm atmosphere in the room instantly disappeared, the sound of multiple shoes scrapping against the floor as all of the students got up taking its place instead. Zelda hadn't exactly been prepared for them to be allowed to leave so soon after finishing the bake sale. The opposite seemed to be the case for Midna, who gave Zelda a lopsided grin as she took her hand and began to push her way through the crowd to get out of the kitchen, making her way up the stairs leading to the dorms.

Somewhere about halfway up the staircase, they heard some call their names, making Midna instantly stop and Zelda bump into her, almost falling back down before Midna caught her. They turned around to see Anju and Cremia stand at the foot of the stairs, looking up at them.

"Oops, sorry, Zelda," Anju laughed as she and Cremia ran up to join them, "I didn't think your reflexes were so much slower than Midna's"

"It's fine. But let's get going."

Without really talking about it, they all began to head towards Zelda and Anju's dorm.

Zelda didn't know about the others, but personally, she knew that she had a Hylian essay waiting for her, one that would be great to be done with so that she would not have to spend time thinking about it during the weekend. It seemed, however, that the rest of her friends either didn't think about it or just simply did not share her opinion on the issue, as the moment Cremia had closed the door to the room behind them, Midna walked straight over to Zelda's bed and flopped down onto her back, letting out a dramatic sigh. And although there were a bit more discrete about it and they actually went to sit down on the chairs next to the desks, Anju and Cremia didn't exactly look like they were about to begin doing their homework either.

"Nayru, I'm tired. Being outside in the rain sucks!" Midna declared from her spot on Zelda's bed.

"Funny how you seemed to have completely forgotten about that the entire time you actually were out there," Zelda commented.

"No I didn't forget about it, spending time with you just made the rain worth it."

Zelda didn't know how to respond to that. Taking a step back, she could feel the familiar sense of her cheeks turning red.

"Oh…" Zelda said, noticing how Cremia and Anju were looking at each other, a twinkle in their eyes.

"Yeah, don't get too used to me not complaining," Midna said, "because I know that I will definitely be complaining tomorrow about the fact that I have a mountain of homework that I need to get done before Monday."

"Why not begin to do them now?" Zelda asked.

But Midna just shook her head. "Definitely not. I don't want to do anything school related until Sunday." she seemed to notice how Zelda had opened her mouth to respond and quickly added. "And no, rehearsal tomorrow doesn't count as something related to school. It might be organised by the school, but it's not school and it's not obligatory, so it's fine with me." Midna moved to sit up, the bed creaking beneath her, not happy with the sudden movement. "Hey, speaking of the musical, what about this: tomorrow, after rehearsal, we all take the bus to Kakariko Village, go to a café and go over our lines together. I mean, we already have the manuscript, so what's stopping us?"

"Who are you, and what have you done to Midna?" Cremia asked. "Didn't you just say that you wouldn't be doing your homework until the day before it's supposed to be done?"

"And didn't I just tell you that the musical is completely different from school work?" Midna teased, rolling her eyes at Cremia. "So, what do you guys say? Zelda?"

She was supposed to say no. It was clear to Zelda that she would not get a chance to get any work done on her Hylian essay before it would be time for dinner, and she doubted that she would even get a chance afterwards. If she went with Midna and the others to Kakariko on Saturday, then she would have to do it all on Sunday and just hope that it was good enough to be turned in Monday. She was absolutely not supposed to go to Kakariko Village.

But when she looked at Midna, who had begun to sway from side to say, she just couldn't make herself say no.

"Sure."

The way that Midna beamed at her made Zelda feel confident that she had made the right decision.


	8. Chapter 8

All throughout rehearsal that Saturday, Zelda had to fight to stay focused and not constantly look over at the clock that was hanging above the door, counting the minutes until they could go to Kakariko. Just to make it even worse, they had also reached the point of their preparations for the musical where Kass was expecting that everyone could the lyrics to their songs, something Zelda normally didn't have a problem with, but that day, it seemed that every time she would glance over at Midna, every recollection of having ever practised any of the songs before left her brain, a vague humming noise replacing them instead.

At least Zelda didn't have too many songs to worry about, so for the most part, she just had to stand still—only shifting her weight from one foot to the other from time to time to make sure she did not faint—and listen to the rest of her classmates as they sang their parts.

That was the positive part of Kass having decided that they should go through every song in the entire musical during the same rehearsal session to make sure that they would be able to do the same while performing the actual show; it wasn't as intense as rehearsal normally was for Zelda. Even though she could feel how it was harder to remember all of the lyrics to the songs when she didn't have the time to double-check everything, she did at least not have to worry too much about people noticing if she messed up, as they were all busy with making sure their own sections were perfect. Of course, it didn't keep her from worrying all the same, but having the voice in the back of her head reminding her that it was just her overthinking it, did help her be able to relax somewhat in between her songs and marvel at the rest the voices of the people standing around her.

"Good," Kass exclaimed as Skyloft came to an end and they all breathed a sigh of relief, "very good, in fact. Keep this up, and we won't have anything to worry about."

It was meant as an encouragement, Zelda knew that, but it still didn't make her feel much better about the prospect of having to be on a stage.

However, Midna had soon grabbed her hand, beginning to halfway push her halfway drag her out of the room and towards the stairs leading down into the hall, Anju and Cremia following right behind, not giving Zelda any time to mull over the fact that she was not even sure if she could muster the abilities to make an at least somewhat convincing Hylia, as they all head out of the school and over towards the bus stop.

Technically, the bus had already left, but at Midna's insistent waving, completely undeterred by how both Zelda, Anju, and Cremia tried to get her to stop, it slowed down, coming to a halt about ten metres away from the bus stop itself.

"Come on, we have to hurry if we both want to get a chance to actually get something to eat while in Kakariko and still make it back in time for curfew," Midna said, having already run over and jumped onto the little ledge at the side of the bus.

"I can't believe her," Anju smiled, nodding her head as they watched how Midna somehow managed to earn a laugh from Navi by whispering something to her.

After the three of them had gotten on the bus as well—Anju insisting on apologising for slowing everyone down—the door closed once more, and this time, the bus could actually begin to drive all the way to Kakariko Village without any more delays.

Walking down the aisle between the rows of seat, Zelda was able to state that at least there hadn't been any other people on the bus, meaning that the only person they had inconvenienced was Navi who didn't seem to care all that much, at least if going by her reaction towards Midna. Rationally, Zelda knew that it shouldn't matter that much—she hadn't been the one to signal for the bus to stop, Midna had done that. But no matter how many times she reminded herself of that, Zelda knew that if Navi had not smiled at Midna, she would probably never have gone to Kakariko again, too afraid of getting on the bus.

"Zelda, aren't you going to sit down?"

Anju's voice broke through Zelda's worries and she looked over at her friend to find that she was the only one still standing up, Anju and Cremia sitting in two seats on one side of the aisle while Midna had claimed the seat next to the window on the opposite side.

At Anju's words, Midna patted the seat next to hers. "Yeah, I kept this place all for you."

The way that Midna paused to glare towards all of the empty seats in the bus was enough to make Zelda smile slightly.

"Of course," she said, accepting Midna's offer and flopping down into the seat.

Zelda supposed that she didn't do as good of a job at hiding her unease as she could have hoped for and she noticed the worried glances that Midna sent her during the entire drive to Kakariko Village. It wasn't that Zelda couldn't understand it if the others were a bit surprised by how she had suddenly gone quiet, she knew that she was acting strange, but she just couldn't make herself snap out of it and join the conversation like she would have been able to do just a few weeks ago.

With a sinking feeling, Zelda realised that the only major thing that had changed from then and now was the fact that she was in the musical now and had to deal with the pressure of knowing that she was arguably one of the least experienced people involved. It sounded melodramatic, but she was almost entirely sure that she was the weakest link of the chain consisting of everyone involved in the show.

Forcing herself to adopt a more positive outlook, trying to look on the bright side of her situation like her mum would have advised her to, Zelda tried her best to remind herself that that was why she was even heading to Kakariko in the first place; to get better with the help of her friends. Of course, there was only so much they could do to help her, and Midna, Anju, and Cremia all had their own lines to work on as well, but Zelda tried not to think about that as the bus reached Kakariko, stopping at the bus stop right outside the mall.

She was the last one to get off the bus, and to top it all off, she tripped as she stepped off the ledge, having underestimated the distance between the tiny platform and the pavement in front of her. For a horrible moment, Zelda was halfway trying to jump the rest of the way while the other half of her was trying to lean back to stay on the ledge and attempting to grab onto the back of the seat next to her, the result being that she didn't achieve any of the two outcomes. Maybe it was because she was already about to freak out over all of the thoughts going through her head and just couldn't muster the energy to think about the way the pavement was rapidly approaching her face, but Zelda didn't worry about hitting the ground. Right then, she didn't have any space left for any other thought other than a vague feeling of acceptance at the realisation that the pavement was coming closer and closer to her and that she had lost her balance.

Then she felt someone grab her arm.

"Whoa, are you okay?" Midna exclaimed as she moved to catch Zelda, shifting her weight to stop Zelda from falling over, instead making Zelda collide with Midna.

"Yeah, I didn't even realise what was happening, so thank you for helping me," Zelda answered, forcing out a small laugh. Well, it was technically not a lie, she supposed. As she looked up, she noticed that Anju and Cremia were not there anymore. Another glance towards the row of shops that made up the closest thing to a shopping centre that Kakariko had to offer informed her that they had already moved away from the bus stop and were about to open the door leading into a little café in the corner of the building located a few metres away from the bus stop.

She hadn't thought that she had been that slow to leave the bus, but apparently, she had been wrong about that.

Letting go of Zelda's arm as she pushed her back up into an upright position, Midna nodded at her, returning the smile albeit with a more sincere one. "It's good to hear that." turning around to look at the mall, Midna nodded towards the little café. "We should probably go join them, shouldn't we?"

"Definitely."

After taking a moment to try to collect herself, Zelda began to walk over towards small mall, Midna following along. At least the doors were automatic, sliding to the side as they stepped over to them, meaning that Zelda at least didn't have to also worry about making a fool of herself by accidentally trying to open a door the wrong way.

Almost like she had read Zelda's mind, Midna stepped in front of her when they reached the café, holding the door open for Zelda.

"My lady," Midna joked, gesturing for Zelda to enter.

There was something about the way that Midna said the words and the dramatically exaggeration of the movement that made the corners of Zelda's mouth involuntarily twitch.

"Thank—" she began, but she was almost immediately interrupted as Midna stared over at her, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Wait, that's not correct, will you please take a step back again, I have another one."

"Of course," Zelda said with a shrug, already backing away from the door.

Midna nodded at her for a moment before almost closing the door. "Okay, here we go again," she mumbled as she swung open the door once again, repeating the gesture to enter, "my goddess," she said, looking up to blink at Zelda.

Zelda laughed, a real laugh this time, and for the first time that day, she was able to just exist for a moment without constantly worrying about something, only to then mentally berate herself for caring so much about something that plenty of other people were able to face without giving it a second thought.

"Are you two coming over to join us or are you going to keep on acting like an old married couple?" Cremia said, making both Midna and Zelda look over to realise that one, Anju and Cremia were sitting at the table right next to the door, and two, they were looking at them with an amused look.

"Excuse me, can't I get a moment to bask in the fact that she actually liked the joke?" Midna asked, placing her hands on her hips in mock indignation.

Cremia just laughed at Midna's antics, but as Zelda looked over at Anju, she was almost entirely sure that she saw her friend elbow Cremia in the side, making the other girl instantly stop laughing, covering up her sudden silence with a cough. Zelda stared at Anju, hoping that Anju would look over at her so that she could get a clue about what just had happened, but Anju kept looking at Midna, before pointing towards the two empty chairs sitting on the other side of the table from where she and Cremia were seated.

"We already took care of getting somewhere to sit," Anju explained, waiting for Zelda and Midna to take a seat before continuing, "if you guys tell me what to get for us, then I will take care of buying it—" as Zelda opened her mouth, Anju help up her hand, having already guessed what she was about to say, "I'm paying, and don't you dare attempt to transfer the money to me."

"You're too good," Midna chuckled, "but since you're offering, I would really like a sandwich with ham and cheese."

Anju turned towards Cremia who nodded. "Same."

"And what about you, Zelda?"

With a shrug, Zelda looked over towards the menu hanging on the wall, trying to find anything that sounded even remotely appetising. But even though she read through the entire thing, she just couldn't really imagine eating anything with the knot of worry still sitting in her stomach.

"I'm not hungry," she said and tried to ignore the look Midna was sending her. It was fine, she was fine, she could handle the situation even if the thought of having to sing on a stage in front of the entire school and the students' parents was enough to almost make her want to curl up in a little ball and pretend that she couldn't hear anything.

She was fine.

"Okay, so should I just get you a cup of tea then?" Anju asked, looking back and forth between Zelda and Midna.

"Hmm," Zelda mumbled, before clearing her throat, "yes, thank you."

She felt bad for saying yes and wasting Anju's money, but Zelda also knew that if she didn't get anything at all, her friends would probably begin to worry about her, asking questions, which was not why they had decided to come to the café in the first place. They were here to practice their lines, nothing else.

Besides, a cup of tea did actually sound quite nice.

"Good, three sandwiches and a cup of tea then," Anju summarised, looking at them.

When no one spoke up to change their decision, Anju pushed her chair out and went over to the counter to buy the food.

Anju had hardly left the table, before Midna turned towards Zelda. "Is there anything wrong?" she asked, instantly getting Cremia's attention as well.

"No." why was her voice so weird? Why couldn't she just lie without it making her voice go up an octave?

"You don't sound okay," Midna remarked.

That made Cremia nod, joining the conversation. "Yeah, if there's something wrong, you know you can tell us, right?"

"I know, but there really isn't anything wrong," Zelda said, forcing herself to sit still and not fidget in her chair, "I'm… I am just a bit stressed out about the musical and everything."

She knew that she had said too much the moment Midna turned to exchange a glance with Cremia.

"You have worried a lot about that lately." Midna said before reaching out to place a hand on Zelda's shoulder. "If there's something going on, you can tell us about it, and then we can try to fix it."

"What can we fix?" Anju had returned, holding a tray loaded with the three sandwiches for herself, Cremia, and Midna as well as Zelda's tea. Placing the tray on the table, Anju sat back down on her chair while repeating her question. "What can we fix? Has anything happened?"

"No," Zelda said while making a dismissive gesture, "I'm just a bit overwhelmed by just about everything involving the musical, but it's fine."

"The musical?" Anju echoed, knitting her brows. "But I thought that you were just worried about the acting part, and you know that you'll have plenty of time to rehearse."

"Well, I mean, I am also worried about that," Zelda admitted, "but I think that it's more an issue of me… kind of worrying about everything all at once," she paused to look over at Midna, hoping that what she was saying was making sense.

To her relief, Midna nodded. "Okay, so it's more than just the musical?" she asked, reaching out to grab one of the sandwiches from the tray and beginning to unwrap it.

"Yeah, I mean, I am pretty sure that the reason why everything seems to become a big issue right now is because I'm also worried about the musical, but, yes, I worry about pretty much everything right now, and I don't know what to do about it."

"Well," Anju said, "I don't think we can do much about the musical except for telling you that everyone is bound to worry about whether or not they will be good enough, but maybe we could try to fix the issues that aren't related to the musical." she looked over at Zelda, pointing towards her. "Can you give us an example of what kind of situations makes you stressed out?"

Zelda shrugged, trying to find a way to explain her feelings without risking upsetting any of her friends. "It's not really that big of an issue, seriously, I'll just have to keep myself together and get to the other side of the musical, and then everything will be fine again."

"Yeah, no," Midna cut in, "you being a part of this year's musical is supposed to be a nice experience for you, not something you have to endure, so don't try to say that you will be fine when all of us know that you're not." she placed her sandwich back down on the table and reached over to put an arm around Zelda's shoulders. "Zelda, I know that you want to handle this yourself, but there's still four weeks left of rehearsal, and you can't just keep on bottling everything up inside. So tell us, what can we do to reduce the amount of things you are going to worry about?"

There was something about the way that Midna was looking at her, staring directly into Zelda's eyes—a look of determination present in Midna's gaze that Zelda usually only saw when Midna was on stage—that somehow made her able to put her feelings into words and to say those words out loud.

"I don't know," Zelda began, "but I just… worry a lot about what people think of me. You know, like back at the bus stop, I was trying to gauge whether or not Navi liked us anymore after we had made her stop the bus," she shot Midna and apologetic look as she continued, "I have no idea why, but I just can't stop thinking about the times I have done something wrong and what people were thinking about me."

For a moment, everyone at the table were quiet, but just as Zelda was beginning to regret even saying anything about her worries in the first place, Midna had pulled her in for a tight hug or at least as tight of an embrace as the fact that they were sitting in different chairs would allow.

"First of all," Midna said, still not letting go of her, something Zelda was thankful for, "I was the one to ask her to stop the bus, so if anything, she would be angry with me and not you. Secondly, I know that she doesn't mind at all, and I think that, deep down, you do as well."

She was not wrong. As hard as it was to ignore the little, nagging voice reminding her that Navi was busy and probably didn't like it when people would slow her down, Zelda was able to recognise the fact that if Navi really hadn't wanted to stop for them, she wouldn't have done so. But despite all of that, even the slightest chance of her being wrong, and Navi secretly resenting them for having asked her to wait was enough to make her feel like she could never go on that bus again.

"Zelda, I had no idea that it would bother you this much," Midna continued, "but I won't do it again unless you tell me that it's okay—and no, you can't say that it's fine right now, because I know you'd only say it because you feel bad about admitting your feelings," she said, hurrying to add the last sentence when she saw Zelda get ready to protest.

"Midna's right," Cremia announced, "for once at least." at that, Midna turned away from Zelda to instead stick out her tongue at Cremia. Cremia just laughed at her before continuing. "No, but seriously, if there's nothing to do about the musical, then the only thing we can do to help you is to keep any other reasons to be worried at a minimum."

"But you don't have to—"

"Of course we do." Anju said. "We don't want you to have to feel this way for the next four weeks, and if that means waiting another hour when we miss the bus, then that's just what we will do."

"Yeah, but I'm the only one of us who has this problem—"

"Zelda did you not hear what Anju just told you?" Midna asked. "Everyone is bound to get anxious right before the show, but you're having it a lot worse, so of course we are going to help you as much as we can. We just need you to tell us about things before they get the chance to become these enormous, overwhelming obstacles that you can't imagine getting past." adopting a gentler tone, Midna leant over towards Zelda. "Do you think you can do that?"

Glancing around at her friends and seeing the way that they were all looking at her, waiting for her answer, Zelda knew that they were right. As long as she made sure to tackle her problems before they got the chance to get under her skin, she knew that they were not the huge issues that they could later become if not handled early, the issue was her not having the courage to actually confront the problem and instead preferring to deny that there was anything wrong until the obstacles seemed so big that she could never imagine them ever going away.

But if she had someone to talk with about the issues… Zelda looked over at Midna. It would be nice to not have to try to hide when she was feeling down about something. Besides, she had known Midna for long enough to be absolutely certain that, no matter what, Midna would not judge her for her worries.

"I can try."

For a moment, Midna, Anju, and Cremia were silent, and Zelda could see how they were all trying to decide if her answer was good enough.

Then, Midna had pulled her into a hug. "Okay. You'll try, and then, in turn, we'll try to help you as much as we can. Does that sound good?"

"That sounds great." Zelda answered, and for once, she was not lying. "But now that we have that settled, shouldn't we begin to go over our lines? I know that I don't have the role with the most text to remember, but I still think we need as much time to rehearse as we can possibly get."

There was a pause as Anju looked over at Zelda, quite clearly trying to gauge whether or not to drop the subject and begin going over their lines—the reason they had even decided to go to Kakariko in the first place. Finally, she nodded. "Sure. Are we just going to start from the beginning and then the ones of us not involved in the scene can do all of the other roles?"

"That sounds like a solid plan," Cremia agreed, already reaching down into her backpack and soon passing the four scripts around the table.

It took a while before Zelda was able to become as absorbed in delivering her lines with as much conviction as the rest of her friends, but before long, the thoughts of whether or not she would end up failing receded into the background to instead make space for the focus on trying to convey the emotions of the scenes as well as the occasional laugh when one of them would make a mistake.

All in all, their time spent rehearsing their lines in the tiny café turned out to pay off, and when they got on the bus back to Kakariko Village—Midna making sure to say hello to Navi and shooting Zelda a telling glance as Navi replied with a wide smile—Zelda had memorised the first couple of pages. The play was admittedly multiple pages long and they had hardly scratched the surface, but she decided not to focus too much on that, instead reminding herself that she still knew more now than she had done that morning. To add to the good news, they returned home to find out that they would have pumpkin soup for dinner, so when Zelda returned to her room that evening, she was feeling better than she had done for days.

"So," Anju asked, having already thrown herself onto her bed with a book, but still looking up as Zelda entered the room, "I didn't even get the chance to ask you about this today, but how is memorising the lyrics to the songs going for you?"

Zelda sat down on her desk chair and began swinging her legs back and forth. "It's kind of meh right now."

"Meh?" Anju repeated. "It's going 'meh'?"

"Yeah, I know that I know what the lyrics are, but when I think too much about it, it feels like I forget everything and my head just gets filled with nothing but white noise."

"Oh, I know what you are talking about!" Anju said with a laugh. "That sucks, especially because the more frustrated you get, the worse it becomes."

"Exactly! For example, I have this one moment during Ballad of the Goddess where I sing 'battle' instead of 'ballad', and it just changes the meaning so much that I don't understand how I can continue mixing up those words."

"Well, Skyward is kind of about a war, so you're not totally wrong," Anju suggested.

"Maybe. But the most frustrating thing is that when I was practicing it with Midna, I never messed up—at least not during that part of the song. I don't know what happens to me when I step into the drama room, but it is as if it just sucks every memory of having ever sung the songs before straight out of my brain." Zelda sighed. "Maybe Thelma should just give me my very own sword and let me carry that around, I feel like that would be less work than having to tell me every time we go over that song that the lyric is 'ballad'."

"They already allowed Midna to play the Hero even though it's traditionally a role for men, so they might just do exactly that." Anju laughed before her tone suddenly turned serious as she added. "But, speaking of Midna, there's actually something I have been meaning to ask you about."

"About Midna?" Zelda asked, trying to figure out what the question could be about.

"Yes," Anju said, "do you remember our conversation about your feelings about the romance between Hylia and the Hero?"

"Of course."

"Well, I was just thinking—"

There was a short sound of someone knocking on the door, and the next moment, Midna had already barged into the room, the combination of the sudden movement and sound making Anju roll off her bed and barely keeping herself from falling onto the floor by quickly turning around to allow her to stand up. Zelda, meanwhile, had already been sitting up, so while she did start slightly, she was able to sit still.

Having seemingly not noticed the response her arrival had gotten, Midna continued into the room, not even stopping to get a chance to sit down on Anju's chair as she placed her laptop down on Zelda's desk before gesturing towards the screen, a thrilled expression on her face.

"Look at what I found!" she exclaimed. "A live recording of Nayru when she was a part of the Castle Town cast for Skyward, and not only that, but I also found a video of her performing Courage."

"Midna, have you ever heard about this amazing thing called knocking on the door before entering a room?" Anju asked, giving her an exasperated look.

Midna just chuckled at her. "I have, but you and I both know that this was too important to wait. Now, do you want to continue complaining, or can I start the video?"

"I guess there's no way to make you see the idea in letting people know when you are about to enter a room, so, sure, go ahead."

Reaching over to start the recording, Midna winked at Zelda. "Just you wait; this is going to be the best thing you have ever heard," she promised before pulling Anju's desk chair close and flopping down on it

Getting up to walk over to stand next to Midna, Zelda heard the first notes of the song without seeing the video, her view blocked by Anju. But even then, the music sounded nothing like Zelda was used to when listening to the album or when listening to Kass play during rehearsal. It was softer and somehow sounded much younger, more fitting for the song that was supposed to act as a way to let the audience get a personal attachments to the characters.

Then she stepped out from behind Anju, saw the video, and froze.

The staging was absolutely mesmerising. It was simple—Zelda could only spot a single stool on the stage, with Nayru standing right next to it.

Even though the singer was wearing an entirely different costume than she had done in the film adaptation of the same musical, there was no doubt about who she was. There was something so unique about her voice that Zelda doubted she would ever be able to hear her sing and not instantly know who was singing, something that made her succeed in looking young and scared even though Zelda rationally knew that Nayru was ten years older than herself.

The clip ended far too soon, Midna pausing the video as the last note of the song rang out, and Zelda was about to ask Midna if they could watch it again, when the other girl pointed towards the screen on the laptop.

"See, what did I tell you? She's amazing! Goddesses, it isn't strange that she shares her name with the goddess of wisdom, she's a musical genius, that's what she is!" Midna proclaimed before twisting around on the chair to look over at Zelda and Anju. "What do you guys think? Anju, can you finally admit that I'm the best at finding bootlegs?"

"I still found the one for Wicked."

"Yeah, but that's not really hard to do now, is it? I have seen plenty of recordings of Wicked, but this is the first time I have ever seen one of the entire Skyward-musical, songs and all."

"Sure, sure," Anju said, holding up her hands in a placating manner, "you're better than me at this."

"Thank you. And what do you think about it, Zelda?" Midna asked, interrupting the victorious glare she was directing towards Anju to instead grin at Zelda. "I know that you can't have heard this edition before."

"What if I have?" Zelda teased her.

"Then I will have to give the title of being the one of us who is the best at finding bootlegs on the internet to you, so please say that you haven't seen it before."

"Hmm, let me see," Zelda said, lightly tapping her chin as she pretended to think about it, "no, I think you're lucky, I haven't seen that one yet."

Letting out a deep sigh, Midna pretended to wipe away a drop of sweat from her brow. "Good. That was a close one, but I'm still officially the best and you guys would all die if you didn't have me to scour the internet for recordings of musicals." when they didn't answer, Midna wiggled her brows at Anju. "Right?"

"If it helps you feel better about yourself, sure."

"Nope, not the answer I was looking for, Zelda back me up!"

"You're the most amazing person I know," Zelda began, deciding that she might as well add a little to the compliment, "I don't think I have ever seen anyone who was as good at finding a bootleg of a musical as you are."

"Thank you," Midna said, her voice more quiet and sincere. A few seconds passed, but Midna didn't continue to talk. She looked over at Zelda, a look in her eye that Zelda didn't know how to interpret. Then, seemingly remembering the conversation, Midna coughed. "So, now that we have all agreed that the recording is amazing, should we go and show it to Cremia as well?"

"We absolutely should, I think she is in her room." Anju answered, already going over to open the door. When it took a moment for both Zelda and Midna to react, she turned around and looked at them. "Are you two coming with me as well?"

"Yes, of course," Midna said, reaching to close her computer and pick it up.

Zelda followed suit as they left the room, reaching out to catch the door as Anju let go, but before she got the chance to, Midna had already done the same.

"My goddess," Midna said as she held the door for Zelda, and for some reason, it didn't feel like as much of a joke anymore.


	9. Chapter 9

School returned Monday and with it, normality as well.

Already halfway through her first lesson following the weekend, Zelda could feel the effect of finally opening up a little towards her friends and admit that she did sometimes struggle. Not only would Midna take a moment to, from time to time, ask her if she was okay, but when the teacher asked them split up into smaller groups during their history class to discuss the relation between legend and history, Zelda, Midna, Anju, and Cremia instantly forming a team, she noticed how her friends were much more focused on dividing the workload evenly among the four of them than they had been in the past.

Granted, schoolwork on its own was not usually one of the things that would make Zelda the most anxious, she knew she was good at it and would get good grades, but it was a nice sentiment to know that her friends cared enough about her to take on what to them were the more boring parts of their project. Though, when Midna offered to take care of writing the section about the ancient languages, Zelda cut in to say that she would gladly take care of it. She may be glad that they were considerate and took her feelings into account, but that didn't mean that she didn't still love most of the subjects.

Her friends' attempts of lessening the amount of things she could worry about extended to rehearsal as well.

Since they were supposed to begin to learn the lines and the blocking to the scenes, Thelma had ordered everyone who were either going to act, sing, play an instrument, or more than one of those things to be present in the drama room. There, they sat in the same chairs that had once again been organised to form a circle as Thelma and Kass explained how they had planned for the next few weeks to play out, Midna and Anju flanking Zelda, and Cremia sitting right next to Anju.

"We know that we have not yet started the process of learning all of the lines," Thelma said. From the way that a couple of the other people sitting in the circle nodded at Thelma's words as well as from the way Midna took her hand, Zelda got the feeling that it was something Thelma said every year and something they were all used to. The knowledge that she at least wasn't the only one who didn't know her lines by heart was enough to make her heart keep beating at a steady pace as Thelma continued, "and I don't expect you to have them memorised anytime soon. However, to make sure that we are all on the same page and have the same expectations as to where you are supposed to be and how much you need to rehearse, I can tell you right now that in about two weeks, we are all supposed to be off-book." there were a couple of audible groans from a few of the students, and a smile tugged at Thelma's lips. "Now, don't let that overwhelm you, we will make sure that everyone knows all of their lines by that time, don't worry. Today, we will start by rehearsing—actually, Kass would you mind explaining the schedule?"

"Not at all." Kass cleared his throat as he got up from his chair to stand next to Thelma. "As Thelma said, we have made a proper schedule to ensure that we won't risk running out of time, and the schedule is as follows: we will go over most of the musical in a chronological order, starting with act one, scene one today and then continue with roughly one scene during each session. However, there are a couple of exceptions as both scene three and four from the first act are so short that we should be able to get through them both this Wednesday, while act one, scene two as well as act two, scene three will take so much time that we have moved them so that we will go over those two scenes this Saturday as well as Saturday next week, which should give us enough time to make sure that everything is okay. Have everyone understood?"

There were a few murmurs of general confirmation that, yes, everyone had understood the schedule, making Kass clasp his hands together and smile at them. "Great! Then we will get started and not waste any more time. Everyone who is not a part of this scene can leave, though you are of course very welcome to stay."

"You are staying, right?" Midna whispered to Zelda.

"Of course I am!"

Somehow, Zelda managed to not be in the way of anyone, even as the room erupted into chaos with about half of the people trying to leave the room and the other half either trying to make their way over to the little makeshift stage towards the back of the room or being busy with readying their instruments and fastening the sheets of music to the stands while Zelda and Anju were some of the few people who had decided to stay behind to watch. Of course, Zelda was only sitting still in her chair, but she still considered herself to be quite lucky not to get injured by accident—especially as one of the first-year students, a boy with moss-green hair, failed to see her as he walked past her chair while carrying a cello, the result being that Zelda was only a few centimetres away from being hit in the back of the head by the neck of the cello.

The yelp that Zelda let out as she hurried to lean to the side, alerted the student to her presence, and he turned around, instantly apologising.

While trying to assure the student that nothing had happened, Zelda looked over towards the side of the stage where both Midna and Cremia were standing, everyone in the room waiting for Thelma to give them the cue to begin. They were both standing right next to the stage, Midna waiting to go on as she shifted her weight from side to side a couple of times.

Finally, the boy accepted that Zelda was, in fact, completely okay and he hurried over to join the rest of the school orchestra.

"Is everyone ready?" Thelma asked. When no one answered, she shook her head. "Sorry, that was my fault. Is there anyone who is not ready yet?" she looked towards the orchestra, but people either stayed silent or actively shook their head. "Great, then let's begin."

Zelda wasn't sure what she had expected, but the process of trying to assemble the scene seemed much calmer than she had expected it to be with everyone trying their best to make eye contact with the other people who were up on the stage during their dialogues and still having to find the time to look down at their manuscript to make sure that they didn't miss a cue and knew their lines. A couple of times, Thelma had to pause the scene to remind people to also follow the stage directions, but overall, it was going better than Zelda had expected it to.

Then, of course, there was Midna.

As she sat in her seat, watching the scene in front of her and trying to suppress a cough, Zelda couldn't help but notice that unlike the rest of their classes during which Midna always was ready to make a joke or to scribble something onto her notebook before handing it over to Zelda as her own way of texting during class, Midna was completely serious for once. She was not perfect, and even if everyone on stage had not been standing with their scripts, Zelda would still be aware of the fact that Midna was acting throughout the entire scene, but there was still something about the way that Midna delivered the lines of the Hero asking their friends why they had only arrived to free them once they was of use to them again that made Zelda want to jump up there on the stage and hug her. But she forced herself to sit still as the first notes of Chamber of Stone filled the room.

They were halfway through the song when the music came to a sudden stop. Looking over at the orchestra, Zelda could see that the boy who had come close to hitting her with his cello was looking up at Kass, holding his hands up in an apologetic gesture.

"Sorry, I missed my cue," he said.

"Don't worry about that, we will just start over, beginning with the start of the song," Kass responded while motioning for the other members of the orchestra to get ready as well.

Moments later, the music began again, and this time, they made it all the way through the song without any incidents involving the orchestra.

It could have been better, Zelda knew that, there had been a couple of mistakes, people not quite hitting the notes as well as an awkward pause a little over halfway through where Cremia had seemingly forgotten that she had a part, resulting in a couple of seconds of complete silence on the stage before she began to sing, trying to catch up with the music. When looking over at orchestra, she could see that Hilda was looking down at her cello with a disappointed glare, clearly not satisfied with her performance and how Marin was leaning in as close to the sheet music as the harp in front of her allowed her to, brows drawn together. But no matter that, Zelda was still hopeful. If she could be just half as good during her scenes, she was almost completely sure that she had a chance of learning everything in time for when they would have to perform the show in front of the entire school.

Almost as if on cue, Thelma clapped her hands together, making everyone automatically turn to look at her. "Good. Very good, actually," Thelma said, and Zelda noticed how the barely concealed pride in their teacher's voice as she looked first at the people on the stage and then towards the orchestra before continuing, "we are off to a strong start, so I just want everyone to take a moment to applaud themselves for that. Keep this up, and I'm sure this will be the best musical we will ever do."

"And we will pretend that you don't say that every year," Midna remarked, making Thelma smile at her.

"Sure, but this time, I actually mean it."

There were a few scattered laughs. It wasn't the first time that Zelda got the feeling that she had missed an inside joke, but it was certainly one of the first times where it didn't hurt to sit with the impression that she was the only one except for the first-year students not to laugh at one.

"Okay, that's enough applause for now!" Thelma said, silencing the giggles and trying to seem stern, placing her hands on her hips before giving up and resuming her usual way of speaking. "Let's start from the beginning once again, and this time, I want everyone on stage to focus on maintaining contact with the other actors. Trust me, you have already memorised more of your lines than you think, you just need to believe in it."

"Leap of faith," Kass suggested and Thelma nodded.

"Yes, exactly. You need to take a leap of faith and not think so much about whether or not you will end up forgetting anything. I'm right here to help you if your mind goes completely blank. Of course, that applies to you as well," Thelma gestured towards the orchestra, "although I think you'll be happy that it's Kass and not me who will help you out should anything happen." Zelda spotted both Hilda as well as the boy who had almost hit her with his cello nodding along to Thelma's words, getting ready and letting their bows rest just above the strings as Thelma gestured towards the stage. "Begin!"

In the end, rehearsal dragged out despite—or perhaps it was because of—Thelma's many assurances that they were doing well, and when Zelda along with Midna, Anju, and Cremia finally was able to leave the crowded room and begin to head down towards the dining room, her stomach was grumbling so loudly that Zelda had a hard time believing that the others could not hear the noise.

But if they could, they at least didn't comment on it, perhaps because Midna and Cremia were too busy humming the tune of Chamber of Stone, while Anju looked at her girlfriend with a love-struck expression.

"But, Cremia, seriously, you were so good when you actually remembered when to come in," Midna said, interrupting the song.

Cremia laughed. "Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"That depends."

Giving Midna a light shove, Cremia stuck out her tongue at her. "At least I didn't have to play an angsty mess during this scene!"

"You were actually really good, Midna," Zelda said, cutting through their banter, "I mean it."

"Okay, and what about me then?" Cremia teased her, a playful glint in her eye as she took a step towards Zelda. "Was I just terrible?"

Before Zelda had a chance to respond, Midna had already done so for her. "Yeah, pretty much."

"You would have missed your cue too if you had my part and you know it!"

"Perhaps. I guess we'll just never know," Midna said with a shrug.

Stepping forward to stand between them, Anju laughed at their antics. "Okay, okay, we know, you both want to be the best one! Zelda, you were saying something about Midna?"

"Well, just that I was impressed. You… there was something about you that just made me believe in it."

"Thank you," Midna said, a slight chuckle escaping her, "the Hero really has some issues. Mostly just very bad friends, can you imagine your friends just going 'eh' as you are imprisoned and then not bothering to do anything until the mess has already sorted itself out and they need you to save them?" elbowing Cremia, she continued. "At least I don't have to worry about stuff like that as long as I'm friends with you guys!"

"I don't know, Midna, keep up your habit of that kind of compliments and I might just consider it," Cremia shot back only to have to take a couple of steps forward as Midna shoved her in retaliation, coming dangerously close to the stairs leading down into the entrance hall in the process..

"Whoa," Midna exclaimed, instantly reaching out to grab Cremia by the shoulder and prevent her from falling over, "are you okay? I'm sorry; I didn't know I pushed you that hard."

"I'm completely fine, don't worry about me, Anju," Cremia responded, waving her hand at Anju who—just like Midna—had moved to try to save her, "I just wasn't prepared. But now that we have gotten the near-death experience for the day out of the way, perhaps we should go to get dinner?"

Zelda looked over at Midna who was still eyeing Cremia with an almost concerned expression, though she did smile at her friend as she answered. "Of course. I think I heard something about there being steamed meat on the menu today, so we should probably hurry if we want a chance to get any of it."

She didn't need to say that twice, and soon, they were all running down the stairs.

The following Friday, they got to the first couple of scenes were Hylia was also present. To Zelda's relief, it turned out that even though they moved closer and closer to the moment were everything had to be perfect with every passing day, Thelma kept on insisting that rehearsal was supposed to be the least stressful experience she could possibly make it, constantly taking time to tell them when a scene had gone well. Even as Zelda messed up completely the first time she had to walk up on the stage, somehow managing to get up there almost an entire minute too early, Thelma kept on insisting that they would learn it eventually and that it was only a matter of going over the scenes enough times.

And almost as if the universe wanted to prove Thelma right, the scene went without a hitch the second time.

So when Zelda was walking back towards her room that evening, she couldn't keep the smile off her face, instead grinning widely the entire way. Of course, it was not the first time that she had smiled after leaving rehearsal, but if she was completely honest with herself, it was one of the first times were her reasoning for smiling wasn't in part that if she didn't, then she would worry her friends. She felt bad every time she lied and told them that she was fine when she was not, and after having promised them that she would not try to keep her feelings pent up inside each time something was bothering her, Zelda hoped that she could manage the courage to tell her friends the next time that was the case.

But even though neither of her friends were currently with her, as Anju and Cremia did not have to be there to the very end of the session and Midna had stayed behind to discuss whether or not she would need a wig with Jolene, Zelda still smiled as she reached the door to her dorm.

"Zelda!"

She hadn't even touched the door handle when she heard her named being shouted behind her. Turning around, Zelda saw that Midna was running towards her, only stopping at the last moment to keep herself from crashing into her.

"Midna," Zelda said, "I thought you were in the middle of discussing your hair with Jolene."

That caused Midna to shake her head. "I was, but it ended up not taking that long. Apparently, they have decided to go all in when it comes to having a female hero, so as soon as I suggested that I could be the Hero and still have long hair, she agreed with me and said that as long as it wouldn't clash with the rest of the costume, she wouldn't mind it—but that's not why I came to find you."

"Then why did you?"

"I wanted to ask you if you wanted to come over and just… hang out, I've found another recording of Skyward that's even better than the one we watched last week."

"You know exactly what to say to tempt me!" Zelda said, winking at Midna.

"I do. And let me just add this to the reasons you should let the homework wait for another day: Marin is still practicing with the orchestra, and Anju and Cremia are on a date—"

"Wait, a date?" Zelda asked, trying to figure out where they could have gone so late, "Where?"

"I didn't ask, but my guess it that Cremia managed to sneak a slice of cake while we were eating dinner," Midna shrugged, "but no matter what, it means that neither of us have something better to do than to go and do nothing at all together."

"I never have anything better to do than to spend time with you," Zelda said, trying to keep a straight face.

It worked for a moment, but then, she began to giggle, Midna following her lead, until they were both just standing there, laughing in the otherwise silent hallway. It hadn't even been that funny, but Zelda still found that she could not stop the chuckles.

In the end, Midna was the first one to get serious, standing up straight again and looking down at Zelda.

"So?" she asked. "Do you want to come?"

Zelda nodded. "Sure, let me just go get my homework—"

"No homework," Midna stated, crossing her arms as Zelda turned back to look at her, "come on, Zelda, you have already almost managed to finish almost all of your assignments during class, I'm sure that it can wait for tomorrow."

Resting her hand on top of the door handle, Zelda considered the option that Midna was proposing. She had to admit that it sounded tempting to put off having to finish her essay on the ancient legends for another day.

"Please?" Midna asked again, this time pouting at her.

"Okay," Zelda said with a laugh, "but only because you're the one suggesting it."

"Yeah, you hereby have my permission to blame me if you don't get it done in time. Now, come on, I've been saving this recording so that I could watch it with you!"

They made their way over to Midna's dorm, and, just as Midna had told, found Marin absent. Looking around in the room, Zelda thought that perhaps being in the school orchestra was not the only reason that Marin often seemed to be everywhere but in the room she shared with Midna.

While one half of the room was relatively organised but still bore the signs of someone living there as there were a couple of books laying on the bed and a few loose papers scattered on the desk, when compared to the other side, it was absolutely pristine. Zelda had spent enough time in the room to know that it was not just a temporary thing; Midna had always been like that, having the same effect on a room as a hurricane passing through it would have. The floor of her half was almost completely hidden from view, covered by both old worksheets, books, and a couple of dresses that Midna had seemingly decided against wearing earlier that week before throwing them unceremoniously on the floor, while the duvet was a mess of crumbled up fabric placed on the end of Midna's bed, and her backpack had fallen over as it hadn't been placed quite close enough to the side of the desk to lean against it.

"Don't you dare comment on it!" Midna said as she walked past her desk where Zelda had paused to flop down on her bed.

"I hadn't said anything," Zelda smiled.

"No, but you were thinking about it," when Zelda shook her head, Midna just grinned at her. "Of course you were, I can't count the amount of times the teachers have 'suggested'," Midna paused to mimic someone pointing towards her desk with overly exaggerated movements, "that I should clean up."

"But I see that you haven't done that."

"Of course not! This is organised chaos; I know where everything is in here! Besides, Marin has already said that she doesn't mind, so why should I care?"

"Really? Organised chaos?" Zelda repeated, taking a look at the jumble of discarded clothes and old schoolwork around her. She couldn't imagine that Midna could ever find anything in there without having to spend hours searching through the piles of papers. "Well, if that's the case, can you tell me where your Hylian textbook is?"

Getting up from her bed, Midna walked over to stand next to Zelda. "It's right here." she pushed a couple of papers that had been lying on her desk aside, revealing the blue cover of the book in question. Reaching down into her backpack, Midna pulled out her laptop, continuing. "And my computer is right here, so what do you say that we get started on watching that musical? We might have time for the entirety of the first act," she said and nudged Zelda in the side, "so you'll get to see Din playing Hylia today."

"You found a bootleg of a performance that had Din playing the role of Hylia?" Zelda asked. "I didn't even know she was in the musical. Didn't she audition for the role of Hylia in the film adaptation only to have to drop out of the project later on?"

"Yeah, I'm proud of myself as well for finding that—and proud of you for listening to my rants about that awful movie." Midna said. "But, no, she has actually played Hylia during its run in Castle Town as well, only she was an understudy for Hylia, so it was actually not that easy to find —you're welcome by the way—but there are recordings of her out there. And since you haven't found recordings of her yourself, trust me when I say that you are in for a nice surprise."

"How so?"

"I won't spoil it for you," Midna said, dropping the volume of her voice to a mysterious whisper as she moved over to sit back down on her bed, inching to the side to make space for Zelda as well, "but let's just say that we underestimated her when we thought everything she could do was dancing."

"She can sing?" Zelda guessed.

But Midna just shook her head at her. "No, I am not going to tell you, you'll just have to wait and see!"

Before Zelda got a chance to make any more guesses, Midna had opened her computer. The sound of her typing something and clicking on a couple of links filled the room, and then a video appeared on the screen. After enlarging the video so that it took up the entire screen, Midna pushed the computer slightly to the side so that it was resting halfway on Zelda's left leg and halfway on her right.

Only a few minutes into the musical, Zelda knew for a fact what the surprise that Midna had been talking about in regards to Din was.

Every time Zelda had heard about Hylia, both when her parents had used the legends as bedtime stories and when they had been told to analyse them in class, Hylia had always been depicted as a paragon of virtue, someone who was the embodiment of everything that was good in the world. Nayru's portrayal had been the same, a goddess who was fighting for humanity's sake, and although Zelda had loved it at the time and still saw the appeal of the character, she could without a doubt say that she preferred Din's interpretation.

Maybe it was something about Din's past as a dancer that allowed her to fit so much meaning into her every movement. Zelda wasn't sure exactly what it was, but there was something about the way that Din's Hylia was moving and speaking that made her seem less like a Goddess and more like someone who was angry at the world for how it had treated the Hero in her absence.

Halfway through Hero Chosen by the Gods, just as Hylia had convinced the Hero to accept the title of everyone's last hope, Midna paused the video and turned towards Zelda. "See? What do you think?"

"It's amazing!" Zelda could see how Midna was beaming at her, a twinkle in her eye, and she was sure that she looked just like her as she pointed towards the screen. "You know, Nayru's portrayal of Hylia is more loyal towards the legends and all that, but I think I prefer this one."

"I completely agree with that," Midna said, before interrupting herself, "well, she is my favourite _right now_ , that is. I'm sure that you will end up being the best Hylia of all time."

Laughing at Midna's comment, Zelda moved a bit closer towards her friend. "Do you really think that? Do you think I will be able to become as good as her?"

There was a pause, and Zelda got the feeling that Midna was choosing her words carefully as she looked over at Zelda.

"Well, if I'm being completely honest," Midna began, "then I know that we won't be as good as her—we simply don't have the time. But," she leant over to place her head on Zelda's shoulder, "if your schoolwork is any indicative, you are not going to stop practicing until you get your part perfect, so maybe you will in time. Though, I wouldn't want you to spend as much time on rehearsing as you do on your homework—that would mean that you would never have any time for me."

"I wouldn't have any time for Anju and Cremia either," Zelda commented, using her elbow to nudge Midna.

Midna went silent, letting an awkward silence fill the room. Fidgeting with the end of her sleeve and attempting to avoid looking over at Midna, Zelda wished that she had refrained from adding her last remark. She was not entirely sure what had caused the sudden change of mood between them, but she knew that it was because of what she had just said, it had to be.

Plucking up the courage required, Zelda forced herself to let go of her sleeve and instead look over at Midna. "Look, I'm really sorry—"

But Midna cut in. "No, don't apologise, it wasn't because of that. I… there was just something…" her voice trailed off, letting her sentence remain unfinished.

Not wanting to ask Midna what it was that had caused her sudden unhappiness and risk accidentally making the situation worse, Zelda pointed towards the screen. "So, should we continue watching the musical, then?"

"Sure," Midna said, but although she quite obviously was trying her best to hide her emotions, Zelda could still feel the awkwardness between them.

The musical continued, but Zelda was too preoccupied with pondering the question of what Midna had been thinking about to truly appreciate it. She got the feeling that Midna was doing the same next to her, as every move Midna made seemed carefully choreographed as to not require her to touch Zelda. Though the laptop was still resting between them, there was a solid five centimetres of air between Zelda and Midna, and the few times that Midna pointed towards the screen while sharing a fact about the musical that Zelda would consider obscure, she solely used her left hand to gesture towards the video, keeping her right arm perfectly still and not once brushing against Zelda's.

It wasn't until they had made it almost fifteen minutes into the second act that they began to act a bit more normal around each other, as Midna slowly began to move closer and closer to Zelda until they were finally sitting right next to each other just as they had done before, something Zelda took as a positive sign. But even then, there was still something about the situation, something between them that Zelda couldn't quite name, though she knew that it was the reason for the sudden shift between them.

It was also the reason why Marin's return to the room almost was a relief, as the third girl burst into the room, stepping over a pile of books before sitting down on her own bed, facing towards Zelda and Midna.

Midna looked up, quickly pausing the recording.

"How was practice?" she asked, and Zelda could hear how she struggled to keep the same carefree tone in her voice that had been present when they had first sat down.

However, Marin didn't seem to notice it, and Zelda wasn't sure if it was because Marin hadn't been in the room during the silence between them, or if she was overthinking things and turning a little thing into a huge issue between herself and Midna.

"It went well," Marin replied, "we decided to work on Ballad of the Goddess for a while." she blinked at Zelda. "Just you wait, that song is going to be absolutely wonderful!"

Zelda nodded and tried to think of something to say, but her mind didn't come up with anything. Finally, she glanced over at Midna. Seeing her friend sit on her bed, trying to pretend that everything was well sparked an idea.

"Actually," Zelda said, "I was wondering if I could stay over?"

"Sure! Should I go ask Teacher if you can borrow an extra mattress?" Marin said, before pausing and looking over at Midna. "Of course, only if you are also okay with it."

Marin had finally sensed that there was something out of the ordinary.

"No, no, it's a good idea." everything about Midna's body language contradicted her words as she sat there, her arms crossed in front of her chest and refusing to look at Marin as she answered.

Either Marin didn't notice any of it, or perhaps she did but chose to ignore it, already searching for an excuse to leave the room. No matter the reason, she jumped off her bed, and headed over towards the door before stopping for a moment to look back at them.

"Good, I'll be back in a moment with an extra mattress for you, Zelda! And, Midna, perhaps you should try to create a little space on the floor where we can place it" with those words, she left the room, silently closing the door behind her.

Midna turned off her computer, walking over to place it on her desk before she silently began to pick up a couple of papers, moving them from the floor and onto her desk. She worked through the mess without looking at any of the papers, instead simply pilling them up on top of the already messy desk.

"Midna, if I said anything—" Zelda began, but Midna interrupted her.

"No, it's not something you did. Not at all. I just… I don't know, I just remembered something and… yeah." Midna stopped, looked down at the paper she was holding before smiling at Zelda. For once, Zelda was almost entirely sure that it was sincere. "I just thought about something, but don't worry, it's fine now. I'm sorry for being all weird about it before."

"No, no I understand, sometimes you have a hard time of cheering yourself up when you get sad, that's nothing to apologise for, I mean, I am hardly in a position where I could tell you to just decide to feel better." Zelda said, trying to assure Midna that Midna's sour mood had not affected her. She pointed towards the floor. "Do you need any help with that?"

"Yeah, I think I do. A lot of help, in fact."

Pushing herself off the bed, Zelda joined Midna on the floor. Picking up the nearest book—the green colour of the binding letting her know that it was their history book—she walked over to stand next to Midna.

"Look, I think you would actually really like it if you organised your things. For example, I have placed all of my books on my shelf, organised by subject so that I can easily find what I'm looking for."

"But that takes so much time," Midna whined, and just like that, Zelda could feel the usual atmosphere between them slowly return as they began to work their way through the loose papers.

When Marin returned with the mattress, they had only managed to organise a fraction of the mess, but it was enough to create a small square in the middle of the room where the floor was visible, allowing them to place the mattress there. As they returned to the quest of creating some sort of meaning to the way that Midna was keeping her books and papers, Marin joined them. It didn't take long before it was apparent that she was the one of them who was best at taking care of all of the loose papers, and when the sun disappeared behind the horizon and they all began to get ready for bed, Zelda having to leave the room for a few minutes to go get her pillow and duvet from her own room, the room was beginning to look just a little bit less like a hurricane had passed through one half of it.

"Zelda?" Midna whispered, breaking the silence a couple of minutes after they had all said goodnight to each other and pulled their duvets up to their chins.

Zelda shifted to roll over towards Midna. As she looked up at her friend, Midna's face was almost completely hidden by shadows.

"Yes?" she said, careful to keep her voice down as to not to wake up Marin.

"I just wanted to say thank you."

"Don't think about it, I don't mind helping you clean up your rooms. Besides, the mess was not as bad as I remembered—have you been doing some secret organising all on your own?"

Midna smiled, and Zelda was barely able to make out the expression in the darkness. "Yeah, I have secretly been turned into someone who cares about that." she laughed without a sound, her shoulders moving slightly, before she stopped to look down at Zelda once more. "But, no, I just wanted to say thank you. For… being my friend."

"I'm happy that you are my friend as well."

There was no reply and a little later, Zelda could hear how Midna's breathing slowed down, becoming a constant sound as she had fallen asleep.

Despite how it was almost totally quiet in the room, it still took Zelda a long time to fall asleep as she lay there, staring out into the darkness.


	10. Chapter 10

Zelda woke up to find Midna standing over her, gently shaking her by the shoulder while she repeated her name over and over.

"Zelda… Zelda, you need to get up," Midna whispered.

"What?" Zelda mumbled, reaching up to rub the heel of her hand against her eyes.

"We have to get up, there's rehearsal today."

That made Zelda sit up in her bed, her heartrate already speeding up drastically.

"What? Are we late?"

Mentally, she was already recalling the last time this had happened, back when her and Anju's alarm clock had failed, resulting in her only making it to class on time by a combination of pure luck and Midna already having secured her breakfast.

"No, we're not late," Midna said, shaking her head, the movement causing a few strands of her hair to brush against Zelda's cheek, "but Marin needs to be there half an hour before us, so she doesn't have a lot of time right now, but we didn't want to turn on the light before you were awake as well."

That did a bit to make Zelda's heartbeat return to a healthier rhythm. "Oh. Well, I'm awake now, so just turn on the light."

"Okay, cool."

Zelda heard Midna move through the room, and the sound of Midna searching for the light switch by the door. A second later, the lamp hanging from the ceiling turned on, the light it emitted making Zelda instantly close her eyes as the sudden light in the room blinded her.

"Yeah, sorry, perhaps it would have been a better idea to start with just turning on the bedside lamp," Zelda heard Midna say, the source of the sound moving through the room as Midna came back over to sit down next to her.

"No, I just need a second." trying to prepare herself, Zelda opened her eyes and tried to ignore the way the sudden increase of light made her head hurt.

"Still doing that, I see," Midna commented, "I would have thought you would have learnt to let your eyes get used to the light after you did this exact thing back when we were twelve only to immediately walk into a door."

"Not fair, you know that I got glasses less than a week after that, for all we know, that could have been the reason for it," Zelda countered.

Midna just pouted at her. "I doubt it. Your sight isn't bad enough to explain it that way, and I don't even think that is how bad eyesight works."

"Well, I'm the only one of us who has glasses, so you'll just have to accept my word for it."

"I sure do," Midna said, pausing to extend her hand towards Zelda, "but right now we need to meet up with Anju and Cremia to get breakfast. Cremia just texted me that there is pancakes, so hurry up, because I want to get down there before they are all gone!"

Zelda took Midna's hand and let her pull her to her feet.

"Okay, if there is pancake for breakfast, I think I might just be able to hurry."

"I would sure hope so," Midna said, heading over to her dresser where she began to rummage through its contents before spinning around and throwing a dress over at Zelda, "come on, get dressed, we need to leave now."

Looking down at the teal design that had been printed onto the black fabric of the dress, Zelda decided that it didn't look like it was way off in size. Hopefully that would be enough.

Barely using more than a few minutes on getting ready and running a brush through her hair, Zelda was soon ready to leave the room.

They met up with Anju and Cremia in the dining room where the couple had kept a chair for them at their usual table, something that turned out to be fortunate as the room was bustling full of people despite how relatively early in the morning it was, at least considering how it was Saturday.

"It would appear that I was right when I said that we would have to hurry," Midna teased her as they sat down.

"I never said you weren't."

"That's true as well."

"Okay, you two, if you could refrain from bickering for a second, I think you might still have a chance to get pancakes for breakfast," Anju cut in, pointing towards the buffet table, "but you'll have to hurry up a little."

"I'll have you know that Zelda actually was ready to leave the room only five minutes after she woke up," Midna said, draping her arm around Zelda's shoulders.

Cremia raised an eyebrow. "So that's why she's wearing one of your dresses."

"Yup. We didn't have time to go back to her dorm to grab some of her clothes so I let her borrow mine."

"Seems like poor planning to me," Cremia responded.

"Okay, never mind what the reason was," Zelda said, "at least it actually fit me. Now, Midna, should we go over and grab some pancakes?"

"Sure!" Midna said, beaming down at her. "Lead the way."

It turned out that Zelda truly did have to lead the way, pushing past a few students—mostly first-years who had stopped in the middle of the dining hall, a desperate look on their faces as they tried to find an empty spot at a table—and mumbling an apology as she almost knocked the plate out of the hands of a boy. But they were in luck, and despite Midna's warnings that they might have run out, there was still a tall stack of pancakes left on the buffet table, so they returned to their table with plates loaded with the treat.

"Trying to drown your pancakes I see," Cremia said when Midna placed her plate on the table, looking over at the amount of syrup, "what have they ever done to you to deserve such a fate?"

Midna pointed her fork at her. "I'm going to be the Hero later so they were probably evil anyway." She began cutting up the pancakes into smaller bites.

"Actually, that reminds me—how was the date?" Zelda asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, it went well, right, Anju?" Cremia said, turning to look at her girlfriend. Anju nodded and Cremia mirrored the movement. "We just hung out in my room, but I had managed to smuggle a slice of carrot cake up," at that, Midna began to cough loudly, hardly trying to mask how she leant over to whisper that she had been right to Zelda. Shooting Midna an amused glare, Cremia continued, "so we decided to watch the newest episode of Hyrule Warriors. It's not really the same as going to the cinema, but it's the best we can get without leaving the school."

"Hey, as long as you're there, it doesn't matter where we are." Anju reached out to place her hands on Cremia's, making the other girl turn around to look at her, a smitten glint in her eyes.

"Goddesses, I think I might vomit from that one," Midna said, making Cremia turn to look at her.

"Please, it's obviously the pancakes that has made you feel that way," Cremia laughed before leaning over to kiss Anju.

"Zelda do you think they would notice it if we just got up and left?" Midna whispered loudly. "Because we need to go to the drama room soon to be there on time."

"We could try."

"No, no," Anju said with a laugh, already getting up from her chair, "we'll be coming with you guys." she turned around to pull Cremia up with her as well, and soon, they were all heading over towards the drama room.

They made it on time. In fact, they were even a little early, and most of the members of the orchestra were still busy with getting ready in their chairs when the group stepped into the drama room.

Almost all of the other actors had not even arrived yet.

But despite all of that, Thelma still came over to them the moment they entered the room, looking at Zelda with a relieved expression.

"Ah, there you are. I had hoped you'd be a little early so that I could show you how it will work with the platform you'll be standing on during the song at the end of this scene." she said, already heading back towards the makeshift stage, Zelda following behind her. She could hear Anju and Cremia telling her that they would be waiting for her. Midna, however, followed Thelma over to the stage as well.

"I'm sorry what? What platform?" Zelda asked.

"Well, we can't use the actual platform that'll be raised up into the air just yet since you need to know exactly what to do so that we are sure you won't accidentally fall off." there was a pause as Zelda tried to figure out if Thelma was joking. She would have to stand on a platform where there was a risk of falling involved?

Thelma seemed to notice how she had gone silent, for she paused to turn around and give Zelda a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, there will be a cable attached to each of the four corners as well as a railing keeping you safe while you are up in the air, so you'll have to really try to be able to fall off. The part that might give you some problems is when you have to get onto the platform given how we can't actually lower it enough to touch the ground, so you'll have to make sure not to trip while stepping on and off, and then everything will be okay. But we still thought it best to use a wooden pallet right now so that you'll get used to the song without also having to be up in the air. You're not afraid of height, are you?"

"No," Zelda answered, feeling more at ease now that there seemed to be at least some safety measurements put in place, "no, I'm not."

"That's good to hear. I should have told you about it at the audition, but to tell you the truth, we were not exactly certain that we would be able to use a platform to create the illusion of flying." Thelma said. The sound of something falling to the floor with a loud crash made her direct her attention towards the orchestra. "Sorry, but I have to go and see what that was," Thelma said, not pausing for a moment before she walked back to join Kass in the task of trying to pick up a music stand that had fallen over and to place the mess of paper the music sheets created on the floor as they had fallen off the stand back in the right order.

"Worried?" Midna asked, pulling Zelda back into the moment.

"No." Zelda shook her head. "Not really. I mean, I will just have to stand on a pallet right now, I'm not even up in the air."

"Yeah, right now it's just about standing there and looking beautiful while singing and I know for a fact that you are going to do well at both."

"Did you just compliment your own dress?" Zelda laughed. "Are you trying to make me like wearing dresses now?"

"Maybe." Midna smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes as she averted her gaze from Zelda's. "You do need to get used to it though; Hylia wears a dress in the musical after all."

"You don't think I could pull the same trick as you did and get that changed?" Zelda asked, making Midna grin at her

"I doubt it. Both of my ideas wouldn't require new costumes, but your idea of letting Hylia wear not wear her dress would. And just to top it off, you and I both know that her big, flowing dress is a big part of the role."

"You are right," Zelda admitted, leaning back to get a look up towards the ceiling, trying to imagine herself standing on a platform as it was hoisted up in the air, "it would look a bit weird if I was wearing something close-fitting."

"Exactly! Now, let's get back over to the others, I think Thelma is about to say something."

It turned out that Anju and Cremia had once again secured a spot for them in the circle of chairs, so they didn't have to fight anyone to find a place to sit as Thelma stepped into the middle of the ring. A few murmurs of general excitement echoed around the circle as Zelda's sports teacher strolled through the room as well. Jolene waved back at one of the second-year student who looked like she was about to consider running over to give her a hug as she walked over to stand next to Thelma.

Zelda looked over at Jolene. She had not seen her enter the room, but then again, she had been so busy talking with Midna that it would not surprise her if she had failed to notice her presence entirely.

"Okay, I'm sure that some of you are a bit nervous given that this is one of the bigger scenes and how the blocking is a bit complicated and how at least some of you will have to dance a little. But," Thelma said, emphasising the last word, "that is why Jolene will join us to help. Jolene?"

Jolene nodded. "That's right. I know that all but a couple of you probably don't feel like you are that good at dancing, but—as I'm sure you have noticed in the schedules—we have taken that fact into account by giving ourselves a lot of time to learn it all." She looked around, stopping for a moment to look at everyone.

As Zelda made eye contact with her, she found herself wondering if maybe the people who were on the dance team saw a different side of Jolene than the rest of them did during sports class. While Zelda usually thought of Jolene as the teacher who was paid to make them run around outside no matter the weather, a few of the other students almost acted like they were friends, nodding along as Jolene continued. "We have also tried to simplify the different dances and cut as many as we could since it proved impossible to make the schedules work out so that enough people from the dance team would be able to participate as well, so don't worry, I know it will look great in the end." She went silent and shot Thelma a questioning glance.

Thelma cleared her throat. "Yes, thank you. So, as Jolene said, there's nothing to worry about. But now, let's not waste any more time. Will everyone who has to be on stage during this scene please get over there?" Thelma pointed towards the stage.

The sound of chairs scratching against the floor filled the room as almost everyone got up.

Zelda had already known that almost everyone would have to be present during the scene, both from having read the manuscript and from the bootlegs she had seen with Midna, but as she found herself in the middle of the crowd of people, she was thankful that she would at least spend the part of the scene where she had to be on stage up in the air, up above everyone else. Granted, right now, she would have to make do with a pallet, but at least she had the fact that she would not have to learn a complicated dance routine to look forward to.

Stepping up onto the pallet, she felt someone tap her on the shoulder and turned around.

There was a boy standing in front of her. Zelda knew that she had seen him before, recognising him as the quiet student she shared a math class who preferred to sit in the back of the classroom, but other than that, she was not really sure who he was.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Oh, sorry, I just wanted to say hi. And maybe also ask you if you could move a little to the side seeing that I will have to stand up on the pallet with you." he said. Zelda stared at him in confusion and he began to explain. "You see, I'm the voice of the Loftwing and all that—"

The Loftwing, thinking back to when the list telling who had gotten which roles, Zelda tried to remember who was playing the Loftwing. Then it struck her.

"Of course, I'm so sorry, Shad, I didn't know that you would have to be up here as well," she began, but Shad just waved his hand at her.

"I didn't know it either until Thelma told me that the Loftwing was not ready yet five minutes ago." He must have noticed her quizzical look, because he pointed towards the wooden pallet she was standing on. "Well, it's not as much the Loftwing that wasn't ready; it was more a question of the microphone I'm supposed to be wearing not working properly, so we have to wait to use it. You know, I was actually supposed to be able to stay behind the stage through the entirety of the show, since no one could figure out how to make a costume that would make me look like a Loftwing without it costing thousands and thousands of Rupees, so instead, I would sing and then the microphone—"

"Yeah, I know that," Zelda said, not wanting them to keep on talking after almost everyone else had gone quiet, "and of course I can move a little."

She took a step to the side and Shad stepped up on the pallet to stand next to her. There was only barely enough space for both of them there. Zelda supposed that she should be thankful that she wouldn't also be lifted up in the air.

Walking over to stand right in front of the stage, Thelma looked up at them, and Zelda could see how she was trying to make sure that everyone was in the correct spot. After asking a couple of people to move a bit to the side, it seemed that Thelma was satisfied, and she clapped her hands together.

"Good. Now, since we don't have the technical components ready, there are a few things here that are going to be different than the real deal. First of all, Zelda and Shad won't be onstage yet during this part, but given that there also won't be space for them to walk over to their pallet during the scene, we will just have to pretend that they are not there. It won't have any effect on the blocking though, given that we don't want you to walk around underneath something heavy that is going to be lowered down onto the stage later, so you can just ignore it." she pointed towards Zelda and Shad, making almost everyone else turn to look over at them as well.

Already feeling a bit uncomfortable with the amount of people looking at her, the fact that she was not really supposed to be there not doing much to ease her nerves even if it wasn't her fault, Zelda was relieved when Jolene cut in.

"Yes, the choreography during Ghost Attack won't be affected as well, and when it's time to move on to Ballad of the Goddess, the platform with Zelda on it will also have been lowered onto the stage, so that part will be almost exactly the same when we can go over it with everything in place."

"Exactly," Thelma nodded, "Now, let's get started. We are going to go through the entire scene once where you all stand still during the song, just to make sure that everything else is working, and then we can begin to rehearse the dance as well. Understood?" when no one protested, she smiled. "Good. On the count of three."

The scene began, and Zelda did her best to keep her face expressionless as she watched the story of the Hero and the goddess unfold around her, not wanting to let her presence accidentally affect anyone around her.

However as the first hard notes of Ghost Attack filled the room, sounding strangely out of place and yet like there was still meaning to it all, Zelda had to fight to keep a smile off her face. There was something magical about standing up there on the stage and watching the other actors discuss the demonic attacks that had happened, even if she was supposed to stand still and pretend not to be there, almost like she was watching the legend happen right in front of her.

Zelda supposed that that was also what was happening, but there was still something amazing that she couldn't quite name about the experience.

They managed to get halfway through the first song before an incident happened.

From her slightly elevated position, Zelda could see how two of the townspeople standing towards the front of the stage—one played by Anju and the other played by Ruto if she remembered the name correctly—both turned right during the break in the song, rather than going to the opposite ends of the stage, walking directly into each other as Anju was too busy counting her steps to look up, resulting in a collision with Ruto that made both girls let out a surprised shriek as they jumped backwards.

"Whoa, there!" Thelma exclaimed, motioning for everyone to stop. "Are you two okay over there?"

"Yeah, it's nothing, I was just not expecting that," Ruto said while Anja rubbed her face, managing to utter a sentence to confirm Ruto's assurance that they had not been hurt at all.

"Okay, then let's start over from the start of the song, and remember, Anju, you and Ruto are supposed to end up on each side of the stage when the lyrics come in again!"

The second attempt of the song went much better. Zelda could see how Anju was focusing on remembering to complete her twirl and still face towards the right side of the stage at the end. Before she knew of it, Ballad of the Goddess had already begun, and Zelda tried to envision herself descending from above, counting to herself to make sure that she came in at the right moment, still making sure not to look down at her feet while stepping of the pallet to walk over to where Midna was waiting for the goddess.

Their duet began, and although they were practically surrounded—all the other people on the stage forming a semicircle around them—to Zelda, she and Midna might as well have been there alone.

Midna reached out to take her hand as she sang about how the Hero was not yet worthy to fight in her name. As she stood there, gazing directly into Midna's eyes while she handed her the plastic stick that was acting as a stand-in for the actual prop-sword, Zelda found it hard to focus on the phrasings, but somehow it worked out, and they progressed into the song, reaching the last verse, where everyone else joined in as well, singing to Hylia as she left them once more.

Even though Zelda could see how everyone tried their best to make way for her to get back to her pallet, there was still something slightly unnerving about it all. She wasn't sure what had changed for her, she hadn't minded being in the middle of a crowd when she had been standing on the wooden pallet although she knew that she had been just as surrounded as she was now, but she did know that all of the noise around her was enough to make her look forward to the day where the platform would take her up above the stage.

"Wonderful!" Thelma said as the song finished. Even Jolene gave them an approving nod. "Just wonderful! Now, let's begin to work on the choreography during the dance, and then we might have time to go through the scene once more but with the rest of the choreography incorporated as well…"

Trying to calm down her heart that was beating so hard that Zelda would think it was planning to jump out of her chest, Zelda followed the others down from the stage as they went back to sit in the circle.

Someone took her hand as she sat down, and when Zelda looked over, she saw Midna beaming at her.

"You were amazing, just like I had said you would be," Midna whispered, reaching out to place her hand on top of Zelda's.

"But I don't understand," Cremia said after having swallowed a handful of popcorn, while she pointed towards the computer screen situated on the other bed, "why couldn't Elphaba go back with Glinda?"

"Because the citizens would turn on her as well," Midna answered, not taking her eyes off the screen for a moment.

"Yeah, I know that she says that, but we also see that Glinda has the power to tell wizard to leave and gets Madame Morrible thrown into prison, so if she could do all of that, and she supposedly is telling everything that takes place during the musical to the inhabitants of Oz, why couldn't she also clear Elphaba's name?" Cremia argued, bouncing slightly on the bed.

Anju shrugged before inching closer to Cremia, moving slowly to make sure she would not accidentally end up kicking either Zelda or Midna who were sitting on the floor in front of the bed. "I don't know. Probably because it would feel like a cheap way to resolve the problems."

"Who cares, I just wanted to see Elphaba and Glinda admit that they are in love."

"We all do," Zelda assured her.

"Speaking of dating," Midna chimed in, "Ruto actually asked me if I would be interested in going to the cinema with her sometime next week."

That pulled Zelda right out of her enjoyment of the musical so fast that she was lucky she didn't pull a muscle as she whipped around to look over at Midna.

"What? When?" Cremia asked, also tearing her gaze away from the screen.

"Just after rehearsal had finished," Midna said. She seemed so casual about it all, and Zelda wondered if perhaps she was just overreacting. But there was something about the way her chest had tightened at the news that made her think that even if that was the case, she had to know all of the details to be able to relax about it. However, it Midna didn't appear to have noticed her response, as she continued looking at the computer, "she asked if I had a moment, I said yes, and then she told me that there was this film she had been meaning to see—no, I don't remember which one—and if I would be interested in going with her to see it and if it could be 'just the two of us, like a date'."

"And what did you answer?" Anju asked, also turning to look at Midna rather than the recording of Wicked, leaving Midna as the only one still engrossed in the musical.

"I said that I appreciated her thinking about me, but that I didn't have the time for dating right now," Midna shrugged, "you know, musical and all of that. Although I'm by no means Zelda, I still want to at least not fail my classes, so I have to make sure I will have time for the rehearsal sessions as well as for doing my homework, and if I stated dating as well, I don't think I would have much time left to spend with you guys." Midna finally looked away from the screen as well to instead glance over at Zelda who, having not expected the movement, hurried to wipe the relieved look off her face.

"Whoa, Midna you don't actually want to fail you classes?" Cremia teased her, reaching out to lightly shove Midna. "That's a new one. Perhaps you shouldn't spend so much time arguing with our teachers then; I think that would also help you achieve your goal."

"I didn't say I wanted perfect grades, I just don't want to not be allowed to be in the musical."

"And the Midna we know and love is back!" Cremia declared. "Seriously, I was beginning to fear that you weren't actually Midna."

Zelda tried to focus on Midna's response, tried to focus on everything but the horrible, hollow sensation that had settled in her stomach at Midna's reason for not accepting the invitation. She tried to look on the screen, tried to ignore the feeling. For a couple of seconds, she thought she might have succeeded, but the next moment, the words fought to get out, and Zelda couldn't stop them anymore.

"But had it not been for the musical, you still wouldn't have gone on a date with Ruto, right?"

The effect was immediate. Midna and Cremia stopped their teasing to instead look over at Zelda. She tried to focus on Midna sitting next to her, searching for any sort of clue while ignoring how she could feel Anju's s worried stare.

"What?" Midna asked, a line appearing between her brows as they settled into a puzzled expression.

"You said that you declined the offer because you were already busy with the musical," Zelda repeated. She could feel how her brain was screaming at her to stop and tell them that it was nothing, but the hollowness in the pit of her stomach was urging her on, "well, I was just wondering, even if you didn't have the musical to think about, you would still have said no, right?"

Midna lifted an eyebrow and smirked at her. "You certainly seem to care a lot about my love life, don't you?"

"I'm you best friend, so I obviously care about you," Zelda said. Rationally, she knew that was she was saying was true, but there was still something in her that said the opposite, "and I just don't think that Ruto would be good for you—she's practically your polar opposite."

"What's wrong with dating someone who's your polar opposite?"

"Nothing! It's just—" Zelda struggled to finish her sentence. To be honest, she was not even sure if she knew what she had meant.

Cremia saved her. "Well, Midna said no, so do the reasons for her answer matter all that much? Had she said yes, it would be another story entirely, then the question of why would matter a bit but still ultimately only be Midna's concern, but she said no, so we can just continue on like we have always done." Cremia said before pointing towards the computer. "Now, can we get back to watching how this plays out? Maybe Glinda and Elphaba actually end up together in this one."

They all went silent, redirecting their attention to the witches on the screen.

But no matter how much she tried, Zelda found it hard to focus on the story, and she knew it couldn't be explained by the fact that she had missed some of the plot.


	11. Chapter 11

Sometime later that Sunday, a sense of normalcy returned, and Zelda was once again able to look at Midna without it being accompanied by an aching feeling in her chest and stomach. She was not sure what had brought the pain on in the first place, but she found that she didn't care for the reasons, instead choosing to simply be happy that she and Midna could walk to rehearsal together after class while chatting as they had always done, the silence between them that had characterised most of Sunday morning finally gone.

As neither Cremia nor Anju were involved in the scene and didn't have to be there, it was just the two of them sitting next to each other as Thelma went over her plans and expectations for the session. Technically, Zelda didn't really have to be there either, but when Midna had asked her to come and keep her company—seemingly forgetting her resolve to do well in class in the process as she had done so by sending her a note during math class—Zelda had said yes without hesitating for even a moment.

It seemed that she wasn't the only one who had decided to come to act as moral support. While everyone where busy getting into position, Zelda heard someone sit down next to her, claiming Midna's now empty chair. When Zelda looked over to see who else had decided to be there, she saw Mipha looking back at her.

"Hi," Mipha said, greeting her with a small smile. Zelda returned the gesture as Mipha continued, "I thought I would see you here as well."

"Oh, I'm not in this scene—" Zelda began, but Mipha cut in.

"I know. If you were, you would also be a bit late seeing as everyone else is already either on stage or getting ready to go on on their cue," Mipha said, waving her hand at Zelda, "but you are here with Midna, right?"

"Yeah," Zelda said with a nod while pointing towards herself, "she asked me if I wanted to come with her to keep her company, so here I am."

"Bit of a weird reason when she is going to be quite busy throughout this entire session," Mipha commented, "she has two entire songs, doesn't she?"

"She does. Final Hours and Song of the Hero."

Mipha nodded. "Yeah, I think I have heard Link hum along to Final Hours more times than I can count over the last couple of weeks. You should have seen him when we went on a date to Kakariko last week—it was just the soundtrack to Skyward repeating nonstop everywhere we went. Farore, had I not loved him, I would probably have asked him if he couldn't find another musical so that we could get a break from this one. I love the music but…" she made a clicking noise with her tongue, "it can get a bit much sometimes."

"You two are dating?" Zelda asked. She supposed that she shouldn't be surprised given how close she had seen Mipha and Link be, but she had always just assumed that they were friends.

"Yes, and we have been since our first year here. That's also why I haven't gotten sick of the song already, if I didn't love him, I don't think I would be here during you guys' rehearsals, I would just show up when it was time for costuming."

"Oh," Zelda said, her voice trailing off. She was not sure how to respond to that. Looking over at where Midna was standing, the other girl waving at Zelda when she noticed her glance, Zelda was almost entirely sure that even if she had not gotten the role of Hylia, even if she had not been involved in the musical at all, she would still agree to watch the rehearsal sessions without hesitation, had Midna asked her to.

"Yeah, I know, I know," Mipha laughed, "it sounds bad when I say it like that, but I swear, I do actually like this musical, I just also like some change from time to time so I don't think I would be able to learn every song and then spend weeks trying to understand the blocking and having to memorise all of my lines, so kudos to you guys for doing that."

Zelda didn't get the chance to respond as the sound of Thelma shushing everyone made them look up.

"Okay," Thelma said as the room went quiet, "this is a longer scene, but we don't have enough time to wait until for a Saturday to rehearse all of these, so we will just have to do our best and try to remain focused throughout this entire session, and then I'm sure it will all be fine. Now, what I want everyone to focus on during this scene is remembering your lines. There are a lot of dialogues and even a speech delivered by Demise," she gestured towards Link who gave her a confident grin, "so just do your best."

After her talk with Mipha, Zelda couldn't help but keep an eye on Link as well as Midna while the scene played out in front of her. He was standing up there, and even though Zelda normally knew him as someone happy, carefree, and kind, his solo during Final Hours was enough to make her instinctively want to move away a little, to get as far away from the demons her fellow students were trying to portray. Next to her, meanwhile, Mipha seemed impressed more than anything, smiling widely and tapping along to the rhythm of the song.

Finally, Song of the Hero began. Zelda couldn't keep a smile of her face as the slight reprise of The Legendary Hero washed over her, Midna advancing towards Link's Demise while the song rose in intensity before it all came to a conclusion as everyone joined in on the last verse.

Thelma had barely given them her thoughts of their performance—stressing the good parts while still pointing out how there had been a couple of times where people had either not remembered to go on stage in time or had accidentally been in the way of others—before Mipha jumped out of her seat, leaving Zelda behind as she ran over to where Link was getting down from the stage.

Zelda saw how Link smiled at her while reaching out and lifting Mipha up before twirling her around. They leant in for a kiss just as Midna came back over, sitting down next to Zelda again.

"So?" Midna asked, and Zelda tore her gaze away from where Link and Mipha where laughing at each other to instead look over at Midna who was practically beaming at her. "What did you think about the scene?"

"Uh," Zelda began, trying to buy herself some time to think of something, "it was good. You were pretty intense while threatening Demise and Link delivered a wonderful performance of Final Hours."

Midna nodded. "Yeah, he's pretty good at that. It's a good thing I knew him beforehand, if not, I think I might have been just a little bit scared of him."

"Really?"

"Really." Midna grinned at her before motioning towards Link and Mipha who had gone to sit in the chairs on the other side of the circle, deeply absorbed in their conversation. "You wouldn't think he could play the part of a demon if you looked at him now. I don't know how he does it, but he's definitely able to pull it off—you know, last year, he played the wizard of Oz, and he did pretty well there too, even if the wizard isn't frightening the same way Demise is supposed to be."

Zelda nodded along to Midna's words, trying to pretend that her reasons for having looked over at Mipha and Link was simply Link's talent and not the little sting of jealousy that hit her each time Mipha referred to how she and Link were dating, jealousy at the way that Mipha knew where she was standing in regards to the person she was in love with.

Her feelings both confused and saddened her. Zelda knew she was not in love with Link, she knew that was not why she envied Mipha and her relationship with him. But if that wasn't the source, the reasons for of her feelings, then what was?

She looked down at her hands, fidgeting in her chair as Midna continued to tell her about the musicals the school had put on in the past.

When they met up with Anju and Cremia for dinner, Zelda had not made any progress in regards to figuring out her feelings. Though she had hardly had any time in between returning to her room, attempting to make time to finish at least some of her homework before having to give up and realise that there was no way she was able to stay focused on the task at hand, Zelda had done her best to try to analyse the way her feelings had changed during rehearsal.

Although she had tried her hardest, she had not been able to pinpoint exactly what it was that had made her suddenly unable to look at Mipha and Link without letting the ugly feeling of jealousy take over. But the more Zelda thought about it, the more instances of it she remembered; the way she had been overjoyed when given the news that she and Midna would play the Hero and Hylia respectively, a joy that Zelda had a nagging suspicion didn't only stem from the happiness that landing a role in the show would bring along, the way she had always worked with Midna when they had to pair up in class.

Her reaction to Ruto's invitation for Midna to join her in going to the cinema.

As she remembered it all, Zelda could only come up with one explanation that could provide a reason for it all. But it just didn't make sense. She would have known it if that was the case, would not have needed to analyse her feelings like this, or at least Zelda hoped that was the case. If she was right… No, she refused to let herself think about it, it would mean risking her friendship with Midna if she did.

So Zelda shoved the nagging suspicion for the source of her feelings into the back of her mind and forced herself to conclude that she was just tired and that everything would be better and easier to cope with once she had gotten a chance to get some rest.

Plastering a smile on her face, she slipped into the chair across from Anju and next to Midna. She was not hungry at all, but given all of her thoughts, Zelda was almost entirely sure that it was only because of nerves that she had lost her appetite, so she forced herself to go join the others at dinner even if she mostly wanted to hide in her room until all of the confusion had disappeared again, leaving her with a crystal-clear idea of who she was once more.

"Zelda, are you listening?" Anju's voice pulled Zelda back into the present.

Looking up from her plate, Zelda shot her friend an apologetic look. "No, I'm sorry; I was just a bit distracted. What did you say again?"

"I asked you how rehearsal went," Anju repeated.

Zelda glanced over at Midna, and tried to ignore the way her stomach was suddenly filled with butterflies, fluttering around inside of her. "I thought it went great—you should have seen Midna, she was amazing."

"Aw thanks, Zelda." Midna reached out, throwing an arm around Zelda's shoulders, and Zelda froze, suddenly too aware of how both Anju and Cremia was looking at her. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Everything was fine; everything was exactly as it had been a week ago. Forcing herself to sit still, Zelda listened as Midna continued on. "Especially for not mentioning how I almost bumped into Riju during the part between the two songs," she looked over at Anju and Cremia, gesticulating wildly as she told the story, "imagine, I was standing up there, focused on hitting the notes and the fact that I was supposed to move towards Link, and then suddenly, Riju was standing right in front of me, and I had to veer to the side to avoid hitting her."

"What part of the blocking did you forget?" Cremia asked.

Midna pointed her fork at her, the piece of lettuce not managing to look particularly threatening. "For your information, the possibility of Riju being the one who forgot was also present." Cremia stared at her with a deadpan look, making Midna add more to the explanation. "Okay, maybe I forgot that I was supposed to twirl around when I passed Demise before continuing on, but it wasn't that big of a mistake—I could have been so close to getting my own Anju-moment."

"Oh, Din no," Anju laughed, "please tell me that we are not going to refer to every mistake regarding the blocking as that from now on."

"I'm not saying we are, it's just that I'm hoping to make it become a thing!"

Cremia leant in over the table, and punched Midna lightly on the shoulder. "Hey, Anju doesn't deserve that," she said, though she grinned through it all.

"Who says anything about whether or not she deserves it? This is a question of how funny it was, and I think it was pretty hilarious to see Anju and Ruto accidentally walk right into each other and almost fall over," Midna countered, gesturing towards Anju with her fork.

Anju hid her smile behind her hand as she tried to remain serious.

Meanwhile, Zelda had gone back to staring down at her plate, trying so hard to not focus on the mention of Ruto's name that it wouldn't have surprised her if she turned out to develop some hidden magical ability in the process. Or at least, she couldn't help but hope so. If she suddenly achieved laser-sight, she could burn through the plate and have a reason to excuse herself and go back to her room, a reason that didn't involve telling Midna about the feelings she had pent up inside, closing the door on them and moving a sofa in front of it just to be sure the door would not be forced open by the sheer pressure of everything inside. But now, it seemed that it had finally become too much for a single sofa, and the thought of having to deal with it all on top of the musical seemed like such a daunting task that Zelda would rather have dealt with something such as superpowers. At least it would be something tangible, something where she could calmly tell herself whether or not she possessed any powers. Feelings were overwhelming and confusing and she would have preferred to not have to deal with them on top of the musical.

In front of her, Zelda could hear how Midna, Anju, and Cremia were still discussing whether Anjuing could be the verb they would use to describe the act of messing up the blocking of a musical. It didn't seem like any of them had noticed how silent she was. Zelda didn't know how to feel about it, she had done her best to hide her inner turmoil after all, but it did hurt a bit to know that no one noticed it.

"Guys," Zelda said, interrupting their discussion, making all three of her friends look over at her, "I don't really feel that well so I think I'll just go to my room."

"Of course. Do you want me to come with you?" Midna said, already placing her knife and fork down on her plate as she got ready to get up.

But Zelda shook her head. "No, it's not that serious, my stomach just hurts a little," at least that wasn't a lie, "but thank you for the offer, though."

Before any of them had a chance to ask for any specifics as to what was wrong, Zelda had pushed her chair away from the tabled and picked up her plate, leaving the group moments later. She could hear the worried whispers behind her as she walked over to place the used tableware on the table in the middle of the room where the students on cleaning duty would later come to collect it, before she headed out of the dining hall and up towards her dorm.

Once she was inside and was absolutely sure that the door was closed behind her, Zelda threw herself onto her bed and stared up into the ceiling, trying to make her brain calm down a little by following the lines the paintbrush had created back when the wooden boards had been painted a dull, white colour.

What was she doing? She didn't want people to get suspicious and start to suspect anything, and yet she had caused a fuss in the dining hall. It wouldn't surprise her if her friends weren't the only ones wondering what was wrong with her and why she had left so suddenly, so why had she done it? Maybe she actually wanted them to notice.

Zelda toyed with the thought of telling her friends what was going on. The little part of her that was still capable of logical reasoning told her that it would be fine, reminding her of what had happened when she had admitted to her friends how much the thought of being on a stage scared her, and repeating the fact that literally all of her friends were into girls as well, so the risk of them reacting negatively in anyway was as close to non-existent as it could be, as long as Zelda did not include the fact that she was not exactly sure about anything regarding herself and Midna at least. But that wasn't the reason she wasn't telling anyone, Zelda knew that. She just wasn't sure what the real reason was.

There was a knock on the door.

She barely had time to run around to see who had caused the sound before Anju entered the room, an apologetic smile on her lips as she slowly closed the door behind her, careful not to make any noise.

"I'm sorry," Anju said, "I know you said that you didn't need anyone to come with you, but it looked like you needed someone to come and check up on you."

If Zelda had not been dead-tired, she might have felt compelled to snort at that. Yeah, she did need someone to check up on her, but mostly, she needed to figure out what was going on with her and her feelings. But seeing as she could barely find the energy to sit up in her bed, she simply nodded at Anju.

"And, I'm sorry if I'm wrong, but you kind of had a weird expression on your face almost every time Midna said something at dinner, so I thought that perhaps it would be better I was the one to go and make sure you were okay," Anju continued, and Zelda felt her stomach sink. So someone had noticed after all.

But wasn't that also what she had wanted? Zelda supressed a groan. Nayru, she couldn't make sense of any of her feelings anymore.

"So," Anju said and walked over to sit down on her bed, "would you mind telling me what is wrong? Because I'm pretty sure that it's more than just a stomach-ache."

Looking back up at the ceiling so that she would not have to look over at Anju, Zelda made a noise that could both be interpreted as confirming Anju's words as well deny them. "It is. But… I'm not really sure exactly what is… wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"There's just this… thing between me and Midna—well, I'm not sure if Midna sees it as well, but I do, and it's confusing, and I don't like it, but at the same time I kind of do."

"How so?" Anju asked, leaning forward on the bed, and suddenly, Zelda got the feeling that Anju already had an idea about what she was talking about. How she wished Anju would share it with her and bring her some clarity.

"I don't know when it started, but it's definitely been there since… since summer, maybe also before that," Zelda admitted as she tried to think back and remember how long there had been something hidden beneath the friendly conversations she had shared with Midna, all of the times they had called each other in the middle of the night to talk about nothing and everything, "but it didn't really starts until a few weeks ago, and I didn't pay it any attention until the incident with Ruto."

"We are talking about when she asked Midna out on a date, right?" Anju asked. "Not about how she and I bumped into each other during rehearsal?"

That finally succeeded in bringing a smile to Zelda's face. "No, it's about the date. I don't know how to describe it, but I just… I don't know, but I didn't like the thought of the two of them together like that, and then, today, I was talking with Mipha and she was telling me about Link—apparently they're dating—and when I saw them together, I was _jealous_ , but I don't understand why because I'm definitely not in love with Link, so I don't know…" Zelda let the sentence trail off, looking over at Anju, searching for both an answer and validation in her expression.

Anju was quiet for such a long time that Zelda began to fear she had said something to anger her.

"Will you please say something, Anju, I need to know what's going on. If you think you know it, please tell me," Zelda asked, feeling slightly pathetic as she asked another person to make sense of her feelings for her.

"I don't know, Zelda," Anju said, rubbing the back of her neck, "to me, it sounds like you're in love with Midna."

And suddenly, the weight on the door was too much, and it pushed the sofa Zelda had so painstakingly moved to block the opening far away, letting the emotions come pouring out.

Love

Could she be in love with Midna?

Could she be in love with her best friend?

Instinctively, Zelda thought to reject the idea and assure Anju that there was another explanation, but her mind kept being blank, not offering her any help.

"Do you really think that?" she finally whispered.

Anju shrugged. "I mean, I can't tell you whether or not you are in love with Midna, you are the only one who can do that, but sometimes you do come off… a bit like you are in love with her"

"But I can't be. It could ruin our friendship if I was—it could ruin my friendship with all of you!" she looked over at Anju, who shot her a quizzical look.

"Zelda, I think you might be overthinking this a bit. First of all, you said yourself that you don't know if you are in love, so maybe this actually turns out to be nothing, and even if it isn't, I can promise you that it won't change anything." Anju paused, glancing up towards the ceiling. "Well, maybe that was not the best word, seeing as it would probably change something, at least for you. But it wouldn't ruin your friendship with any of us, so don't you dare think it will."

"Maybe," Zelda said, already regretting how she had not instantly attempted to dismiss the reasoning, "but it isn't even that relevant, I'm not in love with Midna, so as long as we don't tell her about this conversation, everything will remain the same between us." she nodded and wasn't sure if it was to convince Anju or herself as she looked over at her friend, waiting for her reaction.

If it was the former, it did not seem to be working, as Anju sat still for a long time before a tired smile crossed her lips. "I won't tell anyone about all of this," she motioned towards Zelda, "until the moment you say that I can."

"Good."

Zelda had hoped to shut down the conversation entirely with that, but Anju still sat in her bed, looking over at Zelda, almost like she was waiting for Zelda to add something more. When Zelda didn't, however, Anju jumped off her bed.

"I have to go pick up a book from the library," she said, "you'll be okay, right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry."

Anju stood still, her hand resting on the door handle. Then, she accepted Zelda's assurance and left the room. The door closed behind her without a sound and Zelda immediately sprang into action.

Forcing herself to ignore the way it made her head hurt to stand up, she walked over to her desk and opened up her computer. She needed answers and although she doubted that she would be able to get any just then, it wouldn't hurt to try. So she clicked on the browser icon and began to write

 _How to know if you are in love with your best friend._

Zelda looked down at the cursor blinking at the end of her question, her stomach tightening with worry. Could anyone trace this? Was there even the tiniest risk of someone finding a way to figure out what she had searched for? She doubted it, but what if she was wrong, or what if she forgot to delete her search history, and someone came across it by accident?

Tapping on the backspace key, Zelda deleted the last part of her question.

 _How to know if you are in love._

That was what she wanted to know, wasn't it? Zelda looked at the screen, reading her words over and over, until she began to pay more attention to the tiny pixels, the small squares she could see everywhere than she did to the words. Was she really about to ask the internet for help, hoping that a total stranger could help her figure out her feelings? Asking Anju had been one thing, she knew Anju and Anju knew her, but searching for an answer on the internet… that made it look a lot more desperate.

Zelda forced the laptop shut with a sigh. She couldn't do it, just couldn't. But then who else could she ask?

Looking around the room, her gaze landed on her phone, lying on the bedside table. Of course. Why had she not already thought of that?

She picked it up, and a couple of seconds later, Zelda had called her mum. She only heard the first three beeps before Impa answered the call, the sound of Impa trying to shush Tetra reaching Zelda trough the phone as her mum turned her attention towards her.

"Zelda?" Impa asked. "How's everything going? Is the musical coming along well, how are you doing in class—"

Zelda interrupted her, not wanting to have to wait with her question any longer and risk backing out again. "Mum, how did you know that you were in love with dad?"

A surprised sound reached her from the other end of the phone. "What? Zelda what's going on?"

"Will you please just answer?" Zelda tried to mask her unease, but she knew that she wasn't doing a good enough job. Maybe that was also why Impa answered instead of asking for a reason.

"Uh, I don't know, I think it was something that happened gradually… though if I have to give you a more precise answer, I think I'll have to say that I woke up one day knowing that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him."

"But was there a moment where you knew that you were in love, a single moment that made you realise?" Zelda continued; fuelled by the momentum she had already gained.

There was a long pause, almost long enough to make Zelda worry that Impa had not heard her. She couldn't imagine finding the courage to ask her another time, but then Impa's voice came back again. "No, I don't think I can pinpoint any exact moment… what is going on, Zelda, have you met someone?"

Zelda glanced over towards her computer. It would be too much for her to attempt to explain everything that was going, so she settled for the simple version. "Maybe, I'm not really sure."

"Well, if it ends up becoming something, you'll have to invite him home with you during the festival. I would love to meet your first boyfriend and I think your father would as well!"

Her insides turned into ice as Zelda felt a strange numbness spread through her body.

Holding the phone so tightly that it was a miracle she did not break it, Zelda stared straight ahead. "I'll remember that. Goodbye."

"Wait, Zelda, what's wrong?" her mum's voice echoed from the phone and Zelda could hear the worry in her tone. "Zelda, just talk with me, if you are having problems with boys—"

She ended the call, placing her phone back down on the bedside table with more force than what was strictly necessary.

Nayru, why had she thought to call her family? Why had she thought that would be a way to figure out her feelings? Now, she had not only not had any luck in regards to figuring out what was going on, she could also feel the tears starting to fill her eyes, making the room blurry as Zelda furiously tried to blink them away. Everything was fine, her mum had just assumed she knew more than what she really did, there wasn't any ill intentions behind the question, statistically, Zelda talking about a boy was probably the most likely option as well.

But none of the explanations did much to help her make the cold sensation in the pit of her stomach go away. The walls of her room were a blurry mess even as Zelda tried her best to wipe the tears away, only for more to form.

Her necklace seemed impossibly heavy as Zelda reached out to grab the pendant, searching for some kind of way to help herself and try to make the emotions go away. As she clutched the little harp like her life depended on it, she could only state that the feelings did not disappear though her tears stopped trickling down her cheeks, instead settling for making her vision unclear.

It was all too much, too much for her to deal with on top of everything else.

Before long, Zelda gave up and went to bed.

She lay there for a long time, starring out into the darkness of her room and trying to ignore the way that her tears were dripping down onto the pillow. Everything was fine, or at least Zelda could pretend that it was until it truly became the case.


	12. Chapter 12

Zelda did her best to avoid having to face Midna. She was sure that Anju would not break her promise to keep their conversation a secret, but Zelda knew that if she had to spend as much time as she usually did with Midna, she would not be able to keep her secret for much longer.

"The joys of maybe being in love with your best friend," Zelda couldn't help but grumble to herself as she sat down with her bowl of cereal at a table in the corner of the dining room, far away from her usual table, ignoring the looks she got from her friends as she passed by their table. Why couldn't it have been someone she didn't normally spend time with? Why did it have to be Midna? She was aware of the divide she was undoubtedly creating between herself and Midna, but as much as Zelda wanted to get up and go back to sit in her chair next to Midna, she couldn't imagine being able to do that without risking Midna finding out. And Zelda couldn't imagine having to deal with that, so she made herself sit still and pretend that she didn't feel lonely as two first-year students walked over to sit down in the two free chairs at her table, making conversation with each other all throughout breakfast.

At least her first class of the day, Hylian, wasn't one that she would have to share with Midna. Not even Anju or Cremia were in the classroom with her, and Zelda found herself completely absorbed by the subject, throwing herself into the tasks, trying to avoid thinking about anything except for her literary analysis of one of the first legends to be written down. Thankfully, the legend was not one about the Hero, and the amount of attention that was demanded of her soon made Zelda forget about the last couple of days.

But of course she had to face reality again. And seeing as she was in the same math class as Midna, that moment came much too soon.

"Zelda!" Midna waved at her the moment she entered the classroom and gestured towards the empty seat next to her.

Looking around the room and realising that there weren't any other chairs still empty, Zelda nodded and walked over to place her backpack down on the floor and sit down next to Midna, carefully planning her movements in an attempt to not act any different than she usually did.

It didn't work, and as soon as Zelda had sat down, Midna leant over, Zelda doing her best to not let it show how much she had to fight to act the way she would have done the day before.

"Hey, you didn't look like you were feeling that good today at breakfast," Midna whispered, and Zelda was already trying to think of an explanation that did not include what was perhaps growing romantic feelings or her talk with Anju when she continued, "and Anju was saying that you were on your period, so I thought that maybe I should give you this." Midna reached down into her pencil case, searching around for something for a moment before she found a chocolate bar and held it out towards Zelda. "It's not the best—I bought it from Ilia this morning, but I don't know when she bought it," she admitted, "and I know that you prefer that kind of chocolate in tiny squares, but chocolate's chocolate, right?" she looked over at Zelda with almost a hopeful expression on her face.

Zelda looked down at the chocolate bar in its purple wrapping and then back up at Midna. Her friend was smiling at her, but Zelda could see the worry hidden beneath her cheery expression. Guilt filled her. She had not meant to cause anyone to have to worry about her, she had just wanted to keep her feelings hidden, but it seemed that while she had tried so hard to achieve that goal, she also ended up making her best friend worry enough to begin to defend a bar of chocolate.

She accepted the present and gave Midna her most convincing smile. "Thank you. I had actually just been thinking about where I could get some chocolate, so thank you for taking care of that for me."

The relief on Midna's face was obvious as she returned the smile. "Don't think about it, I'm just happy I could help you."

Zelda didn't get a chance to respond as the door opened and their math teacher stepped into the room, all conversation coming to an end as the lesson began.

Although she knew that it was not a good way to deal with her feelings and that it might end up hurting her grades as well as Midna, Zelda didn't take as many notes as she usually did. She tried to convince herself that it was simply because the subject was easy enough to remember, but if she was honest with herself, she knew that it was because she couldn't focus enough on what the teacher was trying to explain, all information passing right through her brain, disappearing again before she had the chance to organise it, committing it to her memory before writing it down as well.

At least it didn't seem like their teacher had planned to talk for more than ten minutes before declaring that they would spend the rest of the lesson on solving the small questions in their books, trying to get used to how to apply the theory to actual mathematical problems. That was when the second problem presented itself, as the teacher asked them to pair up in pairs of two.

"We are going to work together, aren't we?" Midna asked, turning towards Zelda.

"Sure," Zelda nodded, trying to figure out how she would normally have reacted.

They left the room the moment the teacher allowed them to, heading towards an empty classroom located just down the hall. There, Midna pulled out two chairs at one of the front tables.

"Now that there isn't a teacher in here to look over our shoulders and try to look for a mistake in our work, I think we can take the risk and sit closest to the blackboard," she joked as she waited for Zelda to sit down.

Zelda managed a short laugh that she knew was hardly enough to fool anyone. "Do you doubt my abilities?"

"Not at all, but I am aware of the fact that the teachers know that when we have worked together on something, almost every time we managed to get the correct answer, that can be attributed to you."

"Give yourself a little credit, you know that you're also a part of the group, you contribute with a lot of things as well."

"You're absolutely right, the thing is that teachers usually don't give you points for providing moral support for your group," Midna teased.

"No, they don't," Zelda said with a nod, "probably because they knew that you would get top grades in everything if they did."

"That's true, and not to prove my point about you doing most of the work here, but do you remember how to calculate the determinant of these two vectors?" Midna asked, pushing the sheet of paper over towards Zelda. As she gave her the paper, Midna's hand brushed against hers, and Zelda could almost feel how her heart skipped a beat. She had not done as good of a job at trying to forget about her feelings as she had hoped.

"Sure," Zelda said, and tried not to let it show how nervous she was. This was something she knew, as long as she focused on the math and nothing else she would be fine, "you are supposed to find the co-ordinates first."

Shifting through the papers, it took a moment before Midna wrote down a couple of numbers onto the blank part of the paper. "And then what?"

"Look, right there," Zelda pointed towards the very top of the page with questions, "it says what you have to do."

"The x-co-ordinate for vector a times the y-co-ordinate for vector b," Midna mumbled to herself as she read through the block of text, pausing for a moment before she beamed at Zelda, "it's a miracle, I actually remember having heard about this before! How long ago was it that we had about this subject?"

"Last month."

"Last month." Midna nodded. "If I just keep this up, I think the teachers might actually start to like me—well, or at least think that I'm trying." she paused, lightly hitting the paper with her pen a couple of times. "Which, given that I'm not really doing any work unless I'm working with you, would actually be quite the feat. Perhaps they should give me a higher grade just for that—I mean I haven't failed yet even though I don't care all that much."

Zelda smiled, trying to ignore the way the butterflies had returned. "I don't think that's how it works, given grades are based mostly on what you actually show that you can and not what you might be able to do."

"That sucks," Midna declared, "we should probably really get started on this then, shouldn't we?"

"Definitely."

Midna inched closer to her, and suddenly, all Zelda could think about was the way that Midna was sitting right next to her, her elbow brushing against Zelda's arm as Midna began to write down the answers to the first question. She tried to breathe, but it felt like her brain had left her body, and that she was now unable to do anything other than observe how she was fighting to stay seated and not reveal anything about what was going on inside of her head.

"Zelda?" Midna's voice reached her, making Zelda blink a couple of times before looking over at Midna.

"Yes?"

"Do you agree with the answer I found?" Midna said, her tone making it clear that it was not the first time she had asked the question.

Reaching out to pull the paper closer to her, Zelda looked down at the numbers Midna had written, trying to ignore how she could hear her own heartbeat speed up.

"I think it's the right answer," she said, scanning through the calculations Midna had written, "although I think we need to write it a bit neater; I can't see if this is a six or a zero."

"Are you critiquing my handwriting?"

"Not all of it, the letters are actually fine, it's just the numbers."

"Well, that certainly describes the difference between the more language-oriented classes and math for me." Midna grinned as she began to work through the numbers again, looking up at Zelda as she finished. "Do you want to solve the next equation?"

"Absolutely." Zelda pulled the paper closer and began to make her way through the questions.

She was still overly aware of how close she and Midna were sitting to each other, and the way Midna would chuckle at her own jokes as she attempted to make small-talk for both of them, but somehow Zelda managed to push that into the back of her mind, using all of the nervous energy to remain focused on the numbers on the page and nothing else. It was not the way to handle her feelings, Zelda knew that, but it was all she could do while still keeping up the façade in front of Midna.

The library did not have any books on the subject of how one could tell if they were in love with their best friend. Zelda was not sure why she had even hoped it would have. Maybe it was because that was what she had grown used to: that there was no problem in the world that couldn't be solved by finding a book on the subject or by searching for enough information on the internet.

No matter the reason, she was still searching through the books on the shelves, trying to find one that might contain something— _anything_ —to help her, only to come to the realisation that her problem did not seem to be one that people had thought to write a book about.

So in the end, Zelda had to settle for a novel. It was about a girl dealing with having a crush on her best friend—a boy, though—and didn't really apply to Zelda's situation, but she knew that it was the best she could do, and went over to sit at one of the tables located in the middle of the library, propping the book up on the table, and started reading.

The book was about as helpful as Zelda had expected it to be which meant that it wasn't helpful at all. She had hardly gotten more than ten pages into the book before she knew that the girl's feelings were not just another case of hopeless love, something that didn't exactly make her feel any better about herself. What if she just needed some help figuring out if her feelings and what to do after that? Zelda knew that no matter what result she came to in regards to her feelings for Midna, she would never dare to tell her. There was too much at stake for her to do that; Zelda was not one for taking risks and possibly jeopardizing her oldest friendship was not something she would even begin to consider doing.

It was almost like the goddesses had heard her thoughts and had decided to mock her, as Midna turned around the corner, walking past a bookcase and into the open area where Zelda was seated.

Zelda could see the way Midna lit up as she spotted her, quickening her pace until Midna was almost running over to her. She barely had time to hide the cover of her book by slamming it down onto the table and placing her arm on top of it as Midna sat down in the chair next to hers, dumping her backpack onto the floor.

"Zelda!" Midna exclaimed, attracting a raised eyebrow from the librarian that made her lower the volume a bit. "I was actually hoping to find you just now."

"Oh, why?" Zelda asked, wondering to herself if there was a way she could make the book disappear. She could feel her cheeks heating up as she tried to not attract attention to how she had to lean forward to be sure that the cover was completely hidden.

"Don't laugh at me, but I can't find my notes for last week's math lesson, and I can't remember anything," Midna said, reaching down into her backpack before slamming a stack of papers down onto the table in front of them, "so I was wondering if perhaps you could help me with it?"

"Uh, I don't know," Zelda said, hesitating as she tried to figure out a way to get the book out of the way. Perhaps she could hide it in her own backpack? But that would require for her to somehow be able to lift it up and get it in there without it looking suspicious, and no matter how hard Zelda tried to come up with a way to achieve just that, she could not see how it was possible.

Midna, however, interpreted her silence and hesitation in an entirely different way. "You don't have to," she assured her, already reaching out to shove the papers back into her bag, "I can probably figure it out on my own, and isn't that what our teachers always tell me to do? Finally do the work myself." she smiled, but it resembled a grimace more than anything else.

The way Midna looked down at the table, trying to hide the hurt expression on her face made Zelda decide that sometimes the best place to hide was in plain sight, so she lifted her arm from the book and grabbed the papers from Midna. "No, I just wanted to make sure that it was something I knew how to do," she rambled, "but I can see that it is, so let me just get a chance to read through it all and then I can help you with it."

She could see that Midna did not fully buy her mess of an explanation, but at least she didn't question it, simply nodding at her.

"Thank you," Midna said, moving her chair a bit closer to Zelda's so that she could lean in and follow along as Zelda quickly read through the text.

With Midna sitting so close to both herself as well as the book and the butterflies having returned yet again, Zelda struggled to read as fast as she usually did, having to go back and reread a sentence as she had gotten distracted halfway through a couple of times. But she did get through the instructions as well as the answers Midna had gotten to the questions and placed the papers back down onto the table as she finished.

"Okay, so from what I can gather, the problem seems to be that you forgot that there were brackets involved in the first question, so you got that one wrong, and then, since the other questions are all based on each other, you didn't get them correct either since you were working with incorrect numbers," Zelda said, pulling a pencil out of her pencil case and drawing a circle around the number in question, "this is where the problem started." She pushed the worksheet back towards Midna who looked down at the number.

"Yeah…I think I can see that now," Midna said, giving the paper another look before she looked up at Zelda, "thank you for the help."

"It was nothing."

"Yeah, but I would still probably not have caught that mistake if you hadn't told me," Midna said with a shrug before her gaze fell on Zelda's book. Zelda could see the incoming disaster, but knew that there was nothing she could do now. Trying to hide the book would only make it worse, as Midna pointed towards it, "what's that?"

"Just this book that my mum recommended," Zelda lied.

"Huh. I hadn't thought your mum would be the one for romance books," Midna commented, and Zelda was happy for the chance to change the topic.

"What kind of books did you think she would read then?"

"I don't know, probably something smart."

"Yeah, well, maybe someone recommended this book to her and now she is trying to make me read it first so that I can see if it's worth reading for her," Zelda said. She could hear how unlikely her story sounded, but luckily, Midna nodded.

"Yes, maybe." Midna looked at her for a moment, just long enough for Zelda's heart to assume that she had just run several kilometres once again, and then Midna had grabbed her papers and got up from her chair, picking up her backpack in the process. "Well, I should probably get going then, I need to have this assignment finished tomorrow," Midna waved with the papers, "and I don't think my teachers are going to be satisfied with the fact that I went to you for help."

"You're right, they probably won't," Zelda agreed.

Midna smiled at her, and for a moment, Zelda thought that she was going in for a hug, but then she took a step back, turned around, and left.

A groan escaped her as Zelda lowered her head to rest with her forehead against the table. She could almost feel how weird her behaviour was looking to Midna, and she knew that the one thing she should do her best to avoid—the growing divide between the two of them—was getting worse and worse. She couldn't keep acting like this, not without Midna thinking that she was trying to distance herself from her.

Zelda shot the book a look. It had not been of any use for her, quite the opposite in fact, the book had almost been the reason for Midna leaving, and Zelda was sick and tired of the distance she had created between herself and her best friend. Acting quickly so that her resolve would not have time to weaken, Zelda got up from her chair and returned the book to its original place on the shelves, leaving the library before she had time to regret her decision.

Somehow, Zelda got through dinner that evening without letting her emotions get the better of her again. About halfway through, she even found that she was starting to enjoy it, the situation almost being back to how it had usually been before Zelda had opened the door to it all; Cremia and Midna making slight jabs at each other, only stopping when Midna brought up the subject of the costumes for the musical, as they instead begun to discuss which production of Skyward had had the best costumes.

Zelda sat back and listened as Midna declared that her favourites were the original, while both Cremia and Anju preferred the costumes that had been used in the Hateno production.

"What do you think?" Midna asked suddenly, turning towards Zelda.

She could see how Midna had already given up on getting an answer from her, not waiting for her response before she looked back over at Anju and Cremia, and her chest tightened as she saw the consequences of the distance she herself had created between them unfold right in front of her.

"I'm not sure, I don't think I know enough about the different productions to pick a favourite," Zelda said, hurrying to give her answer before the conversation had time to resume without her.

It worked. Midna, Anju, and Cremia all looked over at her, but the thing that mattered the most to Zelda in that moment was the way that the twinkle in Midna's eyes returned as she picked up her phone.

"Don't worry about that, I can find some pictures," Midna said, already writing in the search bar.

From across the table, Cremia smiled at Midna. "Sure, just don't show her any bad pictures of the Hateno production."

"Oh, no, you ruined my perfect, evil plan." Midna laughed, blinking at Cremia, before shoving her phone over to Zelda and pointing towards the screen. "Look, this is the costumes they used for the Hateno production, and you have already seen the original at the museum in Kakariko, but just in case," she slid the picture to the side, letting another one take its place, "this is the way they looked." Midna placed the phone down on the table in front her, motioning for Zelda to flip through the pictures.

She looked down at the screen, and sure, just as Midna has said, she recognised the dress the actress playing Hylia was wearing as the one she had seen in Kakariko, although the Hero's tunic was a little less familiar to her, though Zelda knew that that could be attributed to the fact that she had spent much more time studying the goddess' gown than anything else.

Then she clicked over to the next picture, only to see that there were hardly any differences between the two, the only one as far as she was aware being the fact that the tunic the Hero was wearing was a bit longer in the latter picture and perhaps that the wig for Hylia was a few shades lighter than in the first picture.

"I don't know," Zelda said, "I can't see much of a difference, but, just to even it out, I'm going to go with the original production."

"So, I guess we aren't finding a winner today," Anju said, pausing to let her fork rest against her bottom lip.

"Nope!" was the answer she got from Midna, complete with a wide grin and an emphasis on the middle of the word. "This simply means that my favourite wins by default, simply by being the original." she sent Cremia a challenging look, and of course she accepted it, returning Midna's grin.

"There's this thing called improvement, Midna, which means that it's not always the first thing that is the best!"

The discussion continued on like that for a while, none of them really caring all that much about changing the other's views, but still finding it nice to get a chance to highlight the best parts about each sets of costumes.

When Zelda went back up to her room after dinner, she was for once in the last couple of days not plagued by feelings she could not understand as well as a need to make sense of it. Instead, she left the table, a warm feeling in her stomach and the necklace feeling light around her neck.

Anju came into their shared room only a few minutes after Zelda, walking over to sit down in her chair, before spinning it around so that she could face Zelda who was still lying on her bed.

"Zelda, about what I said yesterday—" Anju began, but Zelda cut in.

"No, I still don't know if you were right, but I have decided that spending too much time thinking about it didn't do anything good for me, so I have decided that until I get some sort of revelation, I won't trouble myself with it anymore," she said, trying to fight down the slight feelings of frustration. Why did Anju have to bring it up again just as Zelda was beginning to feel more at peace about it all? She knew that it was unfair of her to think like that; Anju had no chance of knowing what was going on inside of her, no chance of knowing just how much her remark from the day before had affected her, and certainly no chance of knowing that Zelda had decided not to deal with it. But although she tried to fight it, Zelda couldn't keep the sharp tone completely out of her words.

However, it seemed that Anju understood the response as she nodded. "Yes, that was actually what I wanted to talk with you about; I wanted to say sorry for my comment yesterday."

"No, Anju, it's not your fault, you couldn't have known—"

"See, that's where you are wrong," Anju said with so much conviction behind her words that it made Zelda go silent, "to me, telling you… the things I said didn't seem like much, but I forgot to think about how I would have felt about such a comment before I was out and had admitted to myself that I was bi. I'm sorry for that." she looked down at her hands, but Zelda didn't have to see her face to know that she meant every word.

"No, I'm fine, really, nothing happened," Zelda tried, but the lie was instantly shot down.

"Please, I know you weren't fine this morning. I have no idea about how you did during the classes we don't have together, but I'm willing to bet that it was something like the way you were at breakfast." Zelda didn't argue with that, and Anju continued. "Look, I'm sorry for just assuming that you would be fine on your own, and I'm sorry that I left you alone yesterday."

"It was fine—"

"Zelda, can you honestly tell me that you haven't once thought that it would be nice to talk with someone about your feelings?"

That made Zelda go quiet. Anju's question had hit a bit too close to home for her, for wasn't that exactly what she had tried to do ever since that evening? First by going on the internet, then by calling her mum, and then, finally, by reading in a book.

It seemed that her silence was enough answer for Anju, and she nodded at Zelda. "Don't feel like there's something wrong in admitting that. If it's any comfort, I can tell you that I don't know what I would have done if my mum hadn't been very open about being bi herself." Sliding off the chair, Anju had soon pulled Zelda in for a hug as she continued to whisper. "So if you don't want to talk about it anymore, I will drop the subject, but you have to know that you can talk with me—well, ideally you should know that you can talk with anyone of your friends, but I have a feeling that you want to keep this between as few people as possible. Am I right?"

Zelda paused, trying to fight down the feelings that were about to resurface. Why couldn't Anju have waited with this conversation—at least until they had reached the other side of the musical and all of the extra pressure that came with it? She liked to think of herself as relatively well-adjusted, but right then, Zelda had to accept the fact that she was about to reach the limits of things she could mentally deal with at once, with both schoolwork, the musical, as well as trying to figure out just what was going on between herself and Midna looming over her head.

"I'm just… I don't know what's going on," Zelda mumbled, hating the way that the tears in her eyes had returned. Why couldn't she just, for once, go two minutes without crying? "I know there's something about what you said, but I also keep doubting myself and everything around me."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm just… not sure about it."

"Not sure about being into girls or not sure about being into Midna?"

"Both," Zelda admitted.

Anju let go of her, instead jumping up to sit next to Zelda on the bed. "Look," she said, "I can't really help you much with figuring out how you feel—you're the only one who can know that for certain—but I can tell you that you don't have to be one hundred per cent sure about anything. For example, I thought that I was straight because I liked boys, but when I had a suspicion that I was in love with Cremia, I decided to tell her rather than spending years doubting myself."

"But that's different, you knew that you liked her. I'm not even sure of that," Zelda argued.

"And a lot of people feel that way as well, so don't feel bad about not being sure right now."

"But I just can't keep on not knowing," Zelda said, "I _want_ to know."

Anju took her hand and gave it a light squeeze. "I understand that, but I can't give you the answer, Zelda, no one can except for you."

"But how did you know?"

"How did I know what?"

"How did you know that you were into girls as well?"

There was a second of near total silence as Anju leant back slightly, glancing up towards the ceiling, staying quiet for just enough time to make Zelda fear that she had just crossed a line and asked a way too personal question. She had, she knew that, but she had assumed that Anju would be okay with it.

"Anju, look, I'm sorry—"

Anju held up her hand to silence her. "No, don't worry; I'm just trying to remember how it was." She leant forwards again and looked over at Zelda. "I guess that I figured out that I was in love with Cremia when I was about… fourteen, I think."

"But how did you know?"

"I was watching this rom-com—don't ask me which one, because I don't really remember anymore—and it was quite cheesy, so there was this scene where the main character kisses his love interest outside in the rain, and I just remember thinking that I wished that could be Cremia and me throughout that entire scene."

Zelda looked over at Anju, noticing how her friend was looking right ahead of her, eyes sparkling with joy as she recalled the memory. Was that how you were supposed to look while thinking about someone you had a crush on? Zelda wasn't sure, but she didn't think she looked like that, completely love-struck, while thinking about Midna, so didn't that prove that she weren't in love?

"And then what?" Zelda heard herself ask, making Anju seemingly remember the conversation at hand.

Anju turned back towards Zelda and continued. "Then, I did the same thing that you are doing right now, and decided that I couldn't tell Cremia because I was scared that she would not want to be friends with me anymore if I told her, and I would rather keep the feelings hidden than take that chance. But I didn't question the fact that I was in love with her, and I owe at least part of that to my mum."

"Why?"

"Because she figured out that I was in love with Cremia and decided to assure me that there was nothing wrong with that." Anju pulled Zelda's hand a little closer to her as she continued with an intensity that Zelda was not normally used to seeing from her. "Zelda, I know that I would eventually have grown comfortable with my own sexuality, but I think that it would have taken a lot more time if my parents hadn't been as accepting as they were, and I don't want that to happen to you."

"It won't. I'm just not sure."

"Okay, just remember that, no matter what, if anyone chooses not to accept you, then that's their fault and their loss and not yours."

Zelda tried to force out a laugh, but it sounded strained even to her. "I will, you don't have to worry about me." Trying to shift the subject, she gestured towards Anju. "But you're together with Cremia now, I know that. I just thought that she was the one to ask you out for the first time, wasn't she?"

"Yes," Anju said, returning the laugh, albeit hers sounded much more sincere, "just look at us, do you honestly think that I would have been the first one to confess my feelings? No, Cremia told me a little year after I had first noticed my crush on her, just a few months after we started here, she said that we could get married when we got older if we didn't find anyone else in time, and I didn't shoot down the idea."

"And then what?"

"Well, we both realised that the other was completely serious about it, so we talked about our feelings and decided to give it a shot." Anju smiled at her. "Which, to be honest, has probably been one of the best decisions I have made in my life."

"So are you saying that I should tell Midna?" Zelda asked, trying to figure out how to apply Anju's story to her own life.

But Anju shook her head. "No, I'm not telling you to do anything if you don't want to. I'm just trying to say that you shouldn't feel bad for not being one hundred per cent certain about your sexuality and that you shouldn't let that hold you back if you think you might be in love with Midna."

"I know that," Zelda said, "I know that it's okay to think one thing and then figure out that you were wrong, but I just _need_ to have an answer."

"Zelda, I'm sorry to be blunt, but this is not a math equation where you can add the numbers together, come up with an answer, and then know that you have the right one. I know that's how you want it to be, but it's not."

She knew that Anju was right, Zelda was aware of all that. She knew that this was not a question where she could apply the same kind of logic that she did in classes. But it didn't mean that she didn't feel the hopelessness as an overwhelming wave washing in over her at Anju's words. If she couldn't use the same kind of reasoning to this question, then what could she really do to get an actual answer?

Zelda didn't realise that she was crying before Anju had pulled her in for yet another hug, slowly swaying from side to side as she whispered to her, trying to comfort Zelda.

It didn't work, or at least Zelda didn't stop crying, but the gesture itself was enough to make her calm down just a bit.

Her friends were there for her, and they would always be as long as she didn't try to actively push them away. Zelda repeated the words over and over to herself, hoping that maybe, if she just said them enough times, she would start to fully believe it.


	13. Chapter 13

Despite her talk with Anju and the many assurances that she didn't have to be sure about anything and could figure it out in time, Zelda did not exactly feel much better about herself or her feelings towards Midna that were perhaps something that could be descried as a crush, perhaps were nothing more than a platonic friendship as she left her last class the next day.

However, it didn't seem like the universe was intending on giving her any excuse to try to isolate herself yet again the way she had tried to do the last couple of days, as Zelda had hardly left the room, before Midna exited the classroom just down the hall, running over to Zelda as she got her backpack on.

"Zelda!" Midna exclaimed as she reached her, sliding a few centimetres over the floor before coming to a stop. "Do you want to go and watch the rehearsal session with me?"

"Wait, we weren't in the scene today, were we?" Zelda asked, feeling the bile rise in her throat at the thought of having misread the schedule and not turning up for a rehearsal session she had been supposed to be at.

Thankfully, Midna shook her head. "No, no, it's act two, scene two, so, technically, Kafei and Malon are the only actors who _have_ to be there, but I promised Marin that I would be there as well—you know, since she has to be there practically every time and she wants a friend there—and I just thought that maybe you would like to go as well?"

Mentally shoving the voice telling her to keep a distance between herself and Midna until she was sure about their relationship into the little room that had once been the home for all the feelings she didn't know how to deal with, Zelda nodded. "I would love to. Have you already asked Anju and Cremia, or should we go find them as well?"

"Actually," Midna paused and for some reason Zelda got the feeling that she was trying to avoid looking at her, "I was actually thinking that maybe it could just be you and me. You know, I love Anju and Cremia to death, but perhaps it could just be the two of us this once, just like when we were younger." Midna looked up, a hopeful look in her eye mixed with something Zelda couldn't quite name.

As she looked back up at Midna, Zelda found that the usual voice telling her to stay away was quiet. There was no reason for her to say no, so Zelda followed her heart, reaching out to take Midna's hand.

"I would love to."

That was all it took before Midna was back to her old self, already pulling Zelda along down the corridor. "Great! Come, we are in a bit of a hurry if we want to make it in time and not have to barge in through the door and interrupt the scene!"

With Midna leading the way—along with the fact that Midna didn't have to think twice before she pushed the couple of first-year students who had decided to stand still in the middle of the hallway out of her way—it didn't take long before they reached the door leading into the drama room. To Zelda's relief, she could not hear any sounds from inside the room, and since the school was quite old and didn't have the best sound insolation, the lack of music in the hallway was a sure sign that they were not late.

Still, Zelda was quite happy to stay behind Midna as her friend opened the door and stepped into the room, turning to greet Marin who was in the middle of getting ready with her harp with a wave before continuing towards the chairs located in the middle of the room.

As she sat down, Zelda took the moment to look around. When she had read the script, she had noted how few people were in the scene, and the rehearsal schedule had only confirmed that, but it was still surprising to see how few people had turned up. Of course, the school orchestra was there—Zelda could see the boy with the cello who had almost hit her send her a brief nod when he noticed her presence—as well as both Kafei and Malon, but apart from the corner the orchestra was sitting in, most of the room was nearly empty, the only other people present being Thelma, Kass, Kafei, Malon, as then of course Midna and herself.

Midna leant in towards her. "There aren't a lot of people, right?" she whispered, having already guessed Zelda's thoughts.

"No, there really aren't," Zelda said and watched Thelma as the teacher opened the door and looked out in the hallway outside, probably to see if there were anybody else coming.

It seemed that it really was only going to be the few people already there, as Thelma closed the door and turned around to walk into the middle of the circle of chairs without anyone else joining them.

"Okay, this scene is quite short and supposed to show the bond between the two siblings" Thelma began, skipping her usual welcoming, "of course, there are going to be a few obstacles, mostly the fact that both of you," she gestured towards Kafei and Malon, "will both have a song solely dedicated to show the emotions and opinions that your characters have in regards to the war going on around them, and the last time we put on this musical, we found that these two songs can be quite hard to pull off actingwise—which is also the reason we have decided to plan for this to take an entire session despite the shortness of the scene itself—so just try not to get frustrated if I ask you to start over a lot, will you?"

When both Kafei and Malon nodded at her, Thelma directed her attention towards Kass, with the effect that everyone else in the room did the same as well. "Kass, do you have any notes you want to give before we start?"

Kass coughed for a moment before he looked over at the people in the orchestra. "Yes, I just wanted to tell you the same thing as Thelma, remember not to get too frustrated if things don't go well, these songs look easy, but I think we all know that they are not." There was a chorus of agreement, and Zelda could see how Marin leant over to whisper something to the girl sitting next to her, both of them giggling for a moment before once again focusing on Kass. Watching the interaction, Zelda couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like if she had stuck with the piano for a little longer instead of giving up after a year. Would she have tried out for the orchestra? Would she be sitting over there right now, or would she rather have stayed out of the musical entirely?

She felt Midna reach out to take her hand and tried to stop thinking so much about what she could have done differently in the past and what effect it would have. She was here now, part of the musical, and although she felt like she was about to throw up each time she thought about having to be on a stage in front of people she didn't know, Zelda had to admit that she was also beginning to see how a certain amount of excitement was inevitable as the show really began to take shape.

"Zelda?" Midna's whisper tore Zelda away from her musings.

"What?"

"Are you okay? You got a bit quiet for a moment there."

"Yeah," Zelda said, leaning a bit closer to Midna, "I'm okay."

She had to call her mum again and give her an explanation as to why she had so suddenly hung up on her.

Zelda knew that, but as she looked down at her mobile phone, constantly having to remind herself to loosen her grip on it a little to make sure not to break the device, it didn't make her feel any less nervous. She had overreacted, she knew that, there had been no ill intentions from Impa's side, and just to make everything worse, Zelda had not called her since Monday, making it almost a week since her outburst. Time did nothing to make a problem go away, but even as she stood there, phone in hand, Zelda could still feel the temptation of simply placing the phone back down on her desk and let the call wait for another day. But deep down she knew that it was not the best way to handle the issue—not for her, not for her mum, not for the rest of her family, not for anyone—so though it still felt like she was trying to push her way through a metre of snow as she walked over to stand next to her desk, she took a deep breath and pressed the screen, calling her mum's number.

Impa answered the call almost immediately, almost like she had been waiting for Zelda to call. Considering how her mum typically got home early on Fridays, Zelda supposed that could also have been the case, even if she had never seen her mum wait for a phone call before.

"Zelda!" her mum's voice was a bit scratchy, and Zelda could hear how she was trying to position her phone correctly. "How are you? Is everything all right?"

"I'm fine, mum," Zelda began, "I was just calling to… to explain what happened Monday."

"Oh." she could hear the anxiousness in Impa's voice, something Zelda was not used to. Usually, she was the one trying to avoid confrontations, but right now, it sounded almost like Impa had hoped for her not to mention it.

Not giving herself any chance to use her mother's hesitation as a reason to second-guess herself, Zelda continued on. "Yes, I wanted to say sorry for hanging up on you like that—"

"Honey, there's no need for that, I completely understand—"

"No, mum, please listen, I wanted to tell you that the outburst had nothing to do with you." technically a bit of a lie, but Zelda supposed that it was close enough to the truth for her. After all, Impa's comment about whether or not Zelda had trouble with a boy would most likely not have made her react that way, by ending the call, had it not been for the conversation she had just had with Anju beforehand. "There just are a lot of things going on right now, and I was a bit stressed out. I'm sorry for taking that out on you."

"It's fine, Zelda, don't worry about it. I've done the exact same thing a couple of times, I completely understand you." Zelda doubted that her mum really understood everything about her when she herself often felt that she didn't know who she was, but decided not to comment on it. "But you said that you were stressed out? Is it about the musical, Sweetie?"

It was almost funny, but with the amount of time Zelda had spent agonising over what exactly her feelings meant as well as trying to keep up a façade in front of the people around, the musical was no longer the thing that worried her the most, not with the situation between herself and Midna taking up so much of her focus. Zelda expected that to change as they got closer to the day of the show, but right then, the anxiety stemming from the thought of the musical was easily dwarfed by how much time she had spent thinking about Midna and herself.

Still, Zelda didn't feel like admitting that to her mum, so she ended up agreeing. "A bit, but it's not too bad, really, mum. Midna, Anju, and Cremia have all said that they will help me try to keep my feelings from taking over and completely paralysing me, and I've been doing a lot better recently. It was just that I had a lot of other things going on as well, so it all just became a bit too much for me."

There was a pause before her mum said anything; just enough for Zelda to wonder if one of them had perhaps accidentally pressed the button to end the call. She supposed that it would be ironic, considering her reason for calling, but even that didn't keep the worry about it actually being the case away completely.

Then, she heard the sound of her mum readjusting the phone yet again, and was able to calm down.

"It's good to hear that your friends are helping you," Impa said, and Zelda could almost hear how she was smiling, "but you do still also try to not keep too many balls in the air at once, right?"

"I do," Zelda said, although she could almost taste the lie on her tongue. Too many balls in the air at once. Zelda was sure that questioning her own sexuality and trying to not let that distance herself from her friends, having to rehearse for the musical, while still having to keep up her grades could only be described as exactly that.

"I'm glad to hear that. But, speaking of the musical, didn't you have rehearsal today as well?"

"I did."

"Well, how did it go?"

"It went… okay, I think," Zelda said, trying to recall anything specific from the session, "we rehearsed the end of the musical, which meant that I was not in the scene, so I think that I had more time to notice some of the smaller mistakes, but it went pretty well overall."

"That's good. There's still a few weeks until you have to be ready, isn't there? Wait, let me just check the calendar, I know I had written it somewhere—"

"There's no need for that, mum," Zelda interrupted her, "we have a little under two and a half weeks left."

"That should be plenty of time," Impa said, and Zelda could hear how Impa was trying to make her feel more at ease with it, not knowing that it was not a lack of time until she had to be on a stage that could make Zelda panic, it was the prospect of being on the stage itself.

"I know, mum, it's going to be fine." well, at least Zelda hoped that. The thought of messing up one of the songs and shutting down completely was still one that often defined her nightmares, but for the most part, Zelda was able to push it somewhat away. Of course, the next thing she would think about was usually whether she was really in love with Midna, but it still meant that she had less time to worry about her own performance in the musical.

"Good. I just want to know that you're okay."

"I am, don't worry."

"I should be the one telling you that," Impa said, "especially considering that worrying about your child is practically the biggest part of parenthood."

"Mum."

"Okay, I'll stop now. Will you tell Midna I said hi?"

"Of course."

"Thank you. And remember that your dad and I love you very much—no matter what."

The words stopped in her throat, not able to make it all the way out. Nayru, had her mum figured out what was really going on? Zelda could not see how Impa could have guessed it, but why else would she add that last comment?

"I will," she said, trying to not let her feelings seep into her words.

"Good. Love you."

"Love you," Zelda repeated as her mum ended the call.

Walking over to her window, Zelda looked down at the fields below. She had tried so hard to not let any of the things that had troubled her for the last few days show, but if her mum had already figured out just what was the reason behind Zelda's bad mood, then what was the chance that nobody else had as well?

It felt like she was sitting at the highest point in a rollercoaster, just waiting for the drop. What if Midna had discovered her secret as well?

Zelda knew that no matter what, she would probably have to tell Midna bout her struggle with her feelings someday, but she had hoped that it could wait a little longer.

With a sigh, she placed the phone back down on her desk and tried not to think about it too much, instead walking over to her backpack to get her manuscript. But no matter how many times she tried to make herself focus on the words on the page in front of her, she found that she had forgotten everything the very second her brain had processed the letters, not able to remember what had happened on the page. Zelda looked down at the page in frustration. Why couldn't she at least get a chance to memorize another chunk of the script?

Placing the stack of papers next to her on the bed, Zelda reached up to touch the necklace she had gotten from Midna. Taking a deep breath, Zelda forced herself to relax somewhat and clear her mind before continuing reading.

Zelda was happy to find that she was now able to retain the text for more than a second.

If Midna had guessed what was plaguing Zelda, she did a better job at keeping it hidden than Zelda had done in the first place. All throughout breakfast that Saturday, Zelda was watching Midna a bit more than she normally would, searching for any kind of clue that Midna knew. But although Zelda could practically feel how she was overthinking every single movement—Midna placed her spoon back into her bowl as she asked Zelda about rehearsal, she laughed at Zelda's bad jokes, she was perhaps leaning slightly more forwards than she used to, that had to mean something—she could not see any concrete evidence that Midna had somehow guessed her secrets.

That knowledge however, did not do much for her, and Zelda was still halfway convinced that Midna would suddenly stop to ask her about a rumour she had heard.

But Midna' didn't. They got through breakfast, and not once did Midna mention anything about Zelda's crush that she was not even sure existed in the first place.

Zelda wasn't sure if tight feeling in her chest was from relief or from disappointment as Midna got up to put her bowl and spoon away, telling Zelda that she would catch up with her soon, so she tried her best to ignore it as she made her way over to the drama room.

The door was locked when she arrived, the hallway outside almost deserted as Zelda sat down on the floor, not used to being this early. She knew that the reason for the lack of people around her was that she had left the dining hall so quickly after finishing breakfast, but it didn't make it feel any less strange to sit outside the drama room and not hear the sound of people chatting from through the door.

Just as Zelda was beginning to ponder whether or not she should read through the scene once more—she already knew all of her lines by heart, an unexpected perk of her nervousness the day before—Midna entered the hallway as well, stopping for a moment to look around before she spotted Zelda on the floor.

"Is the door locked?" she asked, padding over to sit down next to Zelda. The sounds of her footfalls were loud in the otherwise almost silent hallway.

"I hope so. If not, then I must have gotten really weak all of a sudden."

"Well, I mean, you absolutely are," Midna winked at her, "but you were also able to get it open yesterday, so it must be locked."

She gave Zelda an expectant look, waiting for her response. When Zelda couldn't muster more than a short giggle, Midna frowned, a crease appearing between her eyebrows as she moved a bit closer to her.

"Zelda, is everything okay?" she asked, reaching out to place an arm around her shoulders.

Zelda shrugged. "Yeah… I'm just a bit tired, that's all."

Midna obviously didn't buy it. "Really? Because you have been really quiet for the last couple of days, and that's not how you used to act when you're tired, at least not until right now." Midna paused, and Zelda tried her best not to look over at her. She could almost feel Midna's worried gaze on her, and she knew that she would not be able to stay quiet about everything if she met it. "Zelda, you know you can tell me if there's anything wrong, right? If it's something about the musical, we can help you—even if it isn't, I will still do everything I can, you just have to say what's wrong and then I'll do everything I can to help."

Still staring straight ahead, Zelda fought to keep her voice from quavering. "I know, but it's really not that big of a deal, there are a couple of things that I have to figure out right now, I'm sorry if it made you worry about me."

"Hey, no need to apologise, I just wanted to know you are all right. Can you tell me what it is that you have to figure out?"

Nayru, she couldn't keep looking at the wall. Turning to look at Midna, Zelda thought that she had prepared herself for the look her friend was sending her, but it was still almost enough to make her give up her secret. However, she managed to catch herself in time to shake her head instead. "No. I'm sorry, but I can't."

Midna patted her shoulder. "No worries. I just hope everything ends up working out for you."

"So do I."

She whispered the words, not sure if she hoped for Midna to hear them or not.

From the way Midna smiled at her, Zelda knew that she had, though Midna didn't comment on it.

They both went silent, waiting for the others to show up, but for once, Zelda was able to enjoy the silence rather than worry about it.

Zelda thought that she had prepared herself for the scene, she really thought she had. All things considered, she did also do relatively well, managing to get through the first part of the scene, where Hylia informed the few who had survived Demise's attacks that she would save them by sending part of the earth up into the sky, exiting the stage as Midna ran on.

When they got the lightning in place, Midna was supposed to enter while the stage was swathed in darkness, so she wouldn't be seen, but since the lights—much like the platform Zelda had to stand on as well as the speaker that would allow Shad to play the part of the Loftwing from behind the stage—weren't ready yet, they could all see as Midna got into position, placing the pedestal down on the ground before getting back up to stand with the prop sword raised up over her head as she waited to get the cue to move from Thelma.

Thelma nodded, and Midna sprang into action, swinging the sword down towards the stage, as she focused on hitting the hole in front of her. She succeeded, letting go of the sword to fall down onto the stage.

That was her cue.

Trying her best to remind herself that it was just pretend and that Midna wasn't actually hurt, Zelda walked back onto the stage, pausing for a moment to let it show how the goddess was taking in the scene in front of her, before she let out a gasp and ran over to the Hero, reaching out to help Midna get up, before they both realised the severity of the Hero's injuries as Midna pretended that her legs gave out from beneath her, falling over, and Zelda struggling to catch her in time for her to shift their weight around so that she was sitting on the ground, holding Midna in her arms.

"Have you gotten the power far away from the demon?" Midna whispered. Zelda could hear how she paused for a moment halfway through her lines as she struggled to remember the last couple of words.

Shushing Midna, Zelda tried to assure both the Hero as well as herself that everything was fine. "Yes, you have done more than anyone could have expected you to do."

It was just pretend, it was just pretend. Midna was fine. However, that knowledge did not stop the tears from forming in Zelda's eyes as Midna struggled to turn her head to look up at her, finishing the last verse of the reprise of The Legendary Hero.

Around her, Zelda was vaguely aware of how Kass gestured for the orchestra to start playing the accompaniment to the reprise of Ballad of the Goddess, so she fought back the tears and began to sing.

She made it hallway through the song, having just begun the second-to-last verse, when she noticed that Midna's breathing was getting shallower. She looked down, only to see that Midna was visibly trying to hold her breath and lie still.

It was not even funny, but the combination of stress, confusion, and ultimately love as well, manifested by Zelda stopping the song as she began to laugh, leaning forwards in her fit of laughter, while she tried to get it under control. But she couldn't, and before long, she heard the music stop as well.

Midna opened her eyes, sitting up on the stage.

"Okay," Thelma said, instantly getting their attention, "at least we know that you aren't too distraught about the scene, that's something at least."

"Sorry—" Zelda began, but Thelma held up her hand at her, shaking her head.

"It's okay, we'll just start the scene over again—Midna," Thelma looked over at Midna who was still sitting with Zelda's arms around her, "you don't have to hold your breath, so don't feel obligated to do so."

"I won't."

"Good. Now, we are going to start from when Midna entered the stage, so get into positions, and then we will get ready to start again in about five minutes."

There was some commotion as both Zelda and Midna got up to return to their original positions, next to the stage in Zelda's case and trying to look like she was hidden in Midna's. Zelda was quite aware of the fact that the rest of the actors were looking at her from their spot as she came over to join them, but at least both Anju and Cremia were there.

"You were doing great, so don't worry," Anju whispered to her, reaching out to take her hand.

Zelda shot her a smile. "I'll try," she said, halfway trying to convince Anju, as well as herself.

Thelma clapped, and Midna walked onto the stage. Once again, she got ready with the sword, plunging it into the pedestal as she collapsed onto the stage.

This time, Zelda tried to focus less on the fact that she was holding Midna, her best friend, during her death-scene, and more on how Hylia must have felt seeing the person she had appointed to be her hero die in front of her, a death caused partly by Hylia's own actions. Somehow, it worked, and Zelda found herself almost completely forgetting her own problems as she focused on hitting the notes in the reprise of Ballad of the Goddess while trying to put in enough emotions as Hylia made the promise to give up her divinity to be reborn as a mortal to ensure the survival of the humans.

She finished, and for a moment, Zelda had almost forgotten about the people around her, so focused on the scene, that when Thelma's voice broke through the silence, Zelda twitched, almost dropping Midna. But she managed to catch her in time.

"Good," Thelma said, "that was good. Just act like that during the show itself, and you won't have to worry about this scene anymore." there was a pause as Thelma looked down into her notes, her eyes scanning the page for a moment before she turned her attention towards them yet again. "Okay, I can see that I'm supposed to remind you of the fact that we will go to Kakariko Village tomorrow to go laser tagging." she blinked at them. "But I don't think it was necessary for me to remind you, was it?"

"No," Marin laughed, a sound echoed by the students sitting around her, "we already knew that."

"That's what I thought, I knew that I didn't need to remind you, but when I told that to the principal, he insisted for me to tell you again just in case you had somehow forgotten." Thelma said, making a short pause, before she clapped her hands together. "Well, now that's out of the way, I can tell you that we managed to do everything I had planned for today, so good job, everyone, give yourself a round of applause." Thelma was the first to do as she had suggested, Kass soon following suit, and with him the rest of the room as well.

Waiting for them all to quieten down again, Zelda could see the proud expression on Thelma's face, an emotion Zelda couldn't help but feel as well. The scene had gone well, even though Zelda could still see a thousand things she could have done better—the acting, getting so close to dropping Midna, and the last couple of notes had sounded a bit to shrill to Zelda—she could admit to herself that she was making progress and that even in the event were she ended up messing everything up while on stage in front of the entire school as well as the parents of the students, she was better now than she had been in the beginning.

As the laughter died out, Thelma began to speak again. "I can see on the clock that we have already gone a couple of minutes over time so feel free to leave."

She didn't have to say that twice. Around her, Zelda could see how everyone did as told, heading over towards the door.

"Zelda, wait!" Zelda heard Midna say just as she had been about to get to her feet, the words accompanied by Midna reaching out to grab her hand.

Sitting back down, Zelda looked at Midna. "Yes?"

"I just wanted to say that… that I love these sessions where we have to be on stage together. I just wanted to tell you that."

It was obvious that that was not all that Midna had been meaning to say. Zelda could see how Midna was holding back the words, but considering the secrets she kept from her best friend, Zelda didn't feel like she had any right to ask about it. Instead, she beamed down at Midna. "I love these scenes as well."

Zelda didn't get the chance to properly register what was happening as Midna twisted around, and in the next moment, Midna had reached out for her, pulling Zelda into a tight embrace.

"You did really well, you have nothing to worry about," Midna whispered, her voice slightly muffled by Zelda's hair, but since Midna's face was still close enough to hers, Zelda had no problem making out what she was saying.

She found herself hugging Midna back just as intensely.


	14. Chapter 14

Zelda woke up before her alarm. It wasn't entirely unusual for her to do so, but as she sat up, the way her head hurt alerted her to the fact that she had not woken up because she was less tired than usual. Rather, her stomach was a tight ball of worry as she remembered what they were supposed to do in just a few hours, and Zelda was certain that it was the real reason she had woken up.

Laser tag.

Having never tried it before, she wasn't sure what it entailed, but Zelda still knew enough about the concept to know that it sounded like it would be stressful, something she was not good at handling.

In the otherwise quiet room, Anju's steady breathing seemed impossibly loud, and Zelda looked over at the redhead. She had her friends. If nothing else, she could always hide behind them, or at least she hoped so.

Still, Zelda could not make herself calm down instead, so instead of going back to sleep, she ended up spending the last fifteen minutes before her alarm was supposed to go off just staring out into the dark room, every sound seeming so much louder than it usually did.

When the alarm finally sounded, Anju waking up and sitting up in her own bed, Zelda tried to pretend that she had only been awake for a few minutes, not wanting to admit just how nervous she was at the prospect of running around in a room with insufficient lighting while someone were shooting lasers—or at least pretending to shot lasers—at her.

"Good morning." Anju yawned at her, rubbing her eyes in an attempt to wake up. "Been awake for long?" she added, this time a bit more coherent.

"No, just a few minutes."

"Good, trust me, you don't want to be tired today."

Zelda tried to remind herself that Anju had meant to tell her that laser tag would be fun and exciting, but despite that, she couldn't shake the feeling that she would come to agree with Anju later today, just for all the wrong reasons.

But, hiding the way her hands were shaking by pulling the duvet up around her, Zelda chuckled. "No, I guess I don't."

Throughout that morning, Zelda soon got the impression that she was the only one who was dreading the outing to Kakariko rather than looking forward to it. She tried to use it as a way to assure herself that it would all be fine and that the other students would not be so excited if laser tagging was as horrible as Zelda expected it to be. But not even the way that Midna waved at her as she entered the bus that would take them to the Bombchu Laser Tag Alley, gesturing towards the empty seat next to her, was enough to completely make the worry go away, even though it helped.

"So," Midna said as Zelda slipped into the seat, "have you ever tried laser tag before?"

"No, not really," Zelda admitted.

"Nervous?"

"A bit."

"Okay," Midna inched over to sit as close to Zelda as her seatbelt allowed her to, trying to keep still as the bus pulled away from the kerb. Zelda tried her best not to show it, but she could almost physically feel how much she was focusing on acting like she normally would have in that situation as Midna continued, "I think we are going to be split up into two teams, so if we get put on the same team, we can just stay together, then I can help you."

"And if we don't?"

"Then you will come find me and we work together. The rules don't matter that much anyway."

Zelda could feel the corners of her lips twitching. "I don't think Thelma would agree with you on that."

"Well, I know that this is a group exercise as well as a way for us to have fun, so if you aren't enjoying yourself while there, then it was an unsuccessful trip, so even if Thelma actually cares that much about the exact rules for laser tagging—which I doubt she does—she'll probably end up agreeing with me on this one. Can we agree on that one?"

Not finding any major flaws to Midna's argument, Zelda nodded. "We can."

"I am glad to hear that. Now, just try to relax. It's going to be fine, but you're going to enjoy it more if you aren't worried already when we arrive."

She said it like it was so simple. Zelda supposed that it might also be for Midna. How many times had Zelda not seen her friend shove her homework aside while declaring that she would have time to do it the next morning before the first class of the day, only to end up not completing the homework at all, still being perfectly calm while in class despite the risk that the teacher could ask her a question at any time, a question Midna would then not be able to answer?

Thinking back, the few times Zelda could remember where Midna had completed her homework with time to spare had been the instances where she had been working with her, and even then, Midna had been the calmer one of them, not that it was a hard title to earn when working together with Zelda.

But no matter how much Zelda sometimes wished that she could have the same stance as Midna towards the things that stressed her, she simply couldn't. When something had gotten into her head, she could not make it leave again. Instead, it repeated itself over and over, getting a bit louder every time, at least until she finally sat down to get the thing that had bothered her done.

"Zelda, look!" Midna's voice pulled Zelda out of her self-pitying thoughts. She leant over in her seat to see Midna pointing out of the window, though Zelda couldn't see what exactly Midna was trying to show her.

"What?" Zelda asked.

"There are horses out on the field. Look, right there!"

When Zelda leant forward, trying to turn so that she could lean in over Midna and wiggling around as much as she could with the seatbelt on, she was exactly able to spot two horses standing out on the field that they had just passed. The smaller one of the horses was looking towards the bus while the bigger one didn't even spare them as much as a glance.

"Yeah, I see them," Zelda said, craning her neck as the horses disappeared out of sight behind the bus before giving up and sitting back down in her seat, "I don't think there's ever been horses on that field before, has there?"

"Not from what I can remember," Midna agreed, "but, speaking of horses—or at least something that I have heard is going to be based on a horse—have you talked to Ilia about the Loftwing?"

"I haven't."

Immediately, Midna looked over to the opposite side of the aisle, prodding one of the girls who were seated there on the shoulder. Until then, Zelda hadn't paid much attention to her surroundings, simply focusing on finding a seat for herself, but as she mimicked Midna's movement and looked over at the two girls in the seats, she recognised Ilia's short, blonde hairstyle as well as Hilda's purple hair.

"Hey, Ilia," Midna called out before Zelda got a chance to stop her, "How is it going with the Loftwing?"

Zelda could see how Midna had just interrupted a conversation between Ilia and Hilda, but found some comfort in the fact that Ilia didn't look annoyed at all, looking over at Midna with a warm—if a bit surprised—expression.

"It's really coming along nicely right now—I'm almost finished, I just need to work a little bit more to finish the wings," looking away from Midna, Ilia blinked at Zelda, "don't worry, I'm not going to leave any sharp edges that might end up hurting you."

She stopped herself in time, so instead of trying to assure Ilia that she had complete faith in her abilities, something that she knew would only end up with her rambling along and making it awkward between all of them, Zelda sent her a short smile. "Thank you. I would appreciate not having to conceal a wound while up on the stage."

Mirroring Zelda's expression for a second, Ilia turned back to her conversation with Hilda, leaving Midna and Zelda to themselves yet again.

"So that's how it's going with the Loftwing; it won't kill you," Midna joked.

"Well, it is a good thing to know."

"Totally. Hey, speaking of that, do you know when we are supposed to be finished with the history assignment?"

Midna continued on that way, mentioning subjects that were almost completely unrelated to the former each time Zelda began to grow quiet throughout the entirety of the bus ride. Had it been anyone other than Midna and perhaps Anju and Cremia, Zelda was sure that it would have felt like she was taking pity on Zelda, but as it was, Zelda was able to just enjoy it, leaning back in her seat a bit as Midna got started on a rant about the amount of math homework they had gotten over the last week.

The bus pulled up at the Bombchu Laser Tag Alley a few minutes later, coming to a sudden halt that made Midna fall back down into her seat as she had just been about to unfasten her seatbelt.

"Whoa, that was close. Good thing I was wearing this," Midna said with a laugh and pointed down at the belt, trying to keep a serious expression. It only lasted for a second, and then Midna was back to hurrying with getting her seatbelt open and getting off the bus.

Zelda followed right behind, trying to look down at the ground and stay close to Midna in an attempt to not get pushed over by the rest of the students who were all trying to get off the bus as the first

It took a while, but they all managed to get out on the parking ground where Kass and Thelma soon began counting everyone, Kass following along with a little list where he crossed out their names as Thelma called their names.

As she stood there, in the middle of the overly excited crowd, hearing the happy chatter around her coming from her classmates, Zelda couldn't help but feel just a tiny bit curious about what the deal with laser tag was. Because there had to be something about it that people had liked so much that Thelma had decided they would all have to go there, wouldn't there? Zelda hoped so, feeling the nervousness in her stomach give way for just a bit of enthusiasm.

But just a bit.

Zelda was sure that it was only a tiny but of curiosity. She was not a fan of laser tag, she knew that already, it was a combination of nearly everything she didn't like and nothing could change that. However, Zelda had to admit that Midna taking her hand as she led the two of them over towards the entrance to the building where Bombchu Laser Tag Alley was located along with the rest of the group was a strong contender.

Once inside and after Kass had counted them yet again to make sure that they hadn't lost anyone while walking the short distance between the parking ground right outside and the laser tag alley itself, Thelma whistled to get their attention.

It worked, and when everyone was looking at her, Thelma began. "Just to make sure that we are all on the same page, we are going to split you up in teams with about five persons on each team." Midna nudged Zelda as Thelma confirmed her words from earlier. "However, even though this is a bit competitive, we want everyone to have fun, so try to look out for each other—we don't want any of you getting hurt—"

"No, not when we are only a couple of weeks away from the premiere!" someone towards the back of the group yelled, resulting in scattered giggles and Thelma looking a bit irritated at the interruption.

"Yes, Ashei, we don't want any of you to not be able to get the chance to be a part of the musical that night, but we also don't want you to get hurt in general," Thelma said, a slight twinkle in her eyes despite her otherwise stern expression as she led them down the hall and into a relatively small room with rows of vests organised on hangers along the walls and small, plastic guns lying on the floor beneath them., a number etched into the side of each gun that matched both the number written on the vest as well as the number written on the wall above them.

Zelda glanced around, not really sure what to do. Were they supposed to just take one of the vests? From what she had seen of laser tagging in films and on TV, Zelda knew that they were supposed to wear one of them while playing, but as no one around her moved over to grab one, she stood still as well, only taking a step closer towards Midna.

"Okay, now, you all have to be careful to get a vest and a laser-gun that has the same number written on them," Thelma said, getting a response of nods, giving Zelda a feeling that she might be the only one not sure about what was happening, "we don't want anyone to mess it up, and try not to shove each other—I know you're looking forward to this, but the more you are considerate of the people around you, the less time this will take."

Around her, people began to move over, each of them grabbing a vest and putting it on. Zelda could feel herself freeze up, not taking as much as a single step away from her spot, so when Midna reached over to grab her hand and guide her over to two hangers that still had vests on them, making Zelda follow along, she was grateful for the fact that Midna had seemingly guessed what was wrong, making it almost enough for her to be able to ignore the fact that the butterflies had returned.

"Look, just put this on, and then you have to fasten it here," Midna instructed, handing Zelda one of the vests, helping her with the small straps that was meant to hold it in place, "you're supposed to protect this," she pointed towards a couple of small square sections of the vest that was a lot less softer than the rest, located both on her chest, stomach and back, "these are the sensors, they're the ones you're supposed to aim for, but also the ones the others will aim for, so try to not let that happen."

"Okay," Zelda nodded, looking down at the sensors and trying to come up with a thing that might bear some sort of semblance to a plan while Midna put on her own vest. She was probably not as good as the some of the other people in the room considering the fact that a lot of people seemed to have been here before, so if she wanted to win, she had to realise that she would not stand a chance without the help of a plan.

"Hey, guys!"

Zelda looked up from one of the straps of her vest to see Anju and Cremia pushing their way through the crowd to get over in their corner.

Looking over at Zelda, Cremia lifted an eyebrow. "I see that you have vest number five," she said, holding one of the plastic laser-guns out towards her, "then, I guess, that this is yours."

"Thank you," Zelda mumbled, accepting the gun. It was surprisingly cold and quite a bit heavier than she had expected.

After Midna, Anju, and Cremia had all found their own laser-guns as well, Thelma walked over to stand in front of the students, getting their attention with a sharp whistle.

"I can see that everyone has found their things," she said, "and if there's someone who hasn't had the time yet, don't worry, you can do it in just a moment. But now, we are going to make the teams, so if you would please form a line."

Zelda tried her best to not get pushed around as they all moved around, trying to do as Thelma had asked. She ended up standing behind Riju and in front of Midna, Midna reaching out to place a hand on Zelda's shoulder for a moment.

Zelda was happy that she was facing away from Midna, as she was almost completely certain that the combination of the blush she could feel spreading all over her face and the way she couldn't keep herself from smiling would surely have given her secret away if Midna had seen it.

As Thelma began to move through the room, assigning each of them a number, Zelda tried to figure out a pattern. To her relief, Thelma didn't seem to simply begin from one and then count until she had the number of teams before starting over from one again. Had she done that, Zelda knew that she and Midna would end up on different teams given how Midna was standing right behind her. Instead, Thelma moved through the line, the numbers she said almost completely random, at least from what Zelda could see.

"Two," Thelma said, pointing at Zelda, moving along to Midna, "two."

"See?" Midna whispered, leaning closer to her to not disturb Thelma's counting. "We got put on the same team."

Thelma reached the end of the line—telling Shad that he would be on team number four—and turned around to look back at them. "If you could please find the rest of your team, then we will move on to make sure that the laser-guns are working properly."

As Zelda had expected, all of the students attempting to find the rest of the team meant that the room erupted into chaos, everyone trying to yell their number. They weren't much better themselves, Zelda standing next to Midna who was trying to yell louder than everyone else. But at least it worked, and soon, Zelda could see Marin, Mipha, and Link push their way through the crowd to get over to them. She tried not to let it show, but Zelda still turned around to look around the room, searching for where Anju and Cremia were. Spotting Anju's bright red hair, she saw that they had ended up forming a team with Riju, Shad, and Ashei, the girl who had made the comment about not getting hurt close to the premiere.

"Do we have a plan?" Link asked as he and Mipha got over to them.

Midna shook her head, smiling at Marin as she joined their group. "I don't. Zelda, what about you? Do you have a plan for us?"

"I think that it would be a good idea if we split up," Zelda said, trying to not show her discomfort as the entire team turned to look at her, "that way, we might be able to trick the others into following some of us, giving the others a chance to sneak up on them." she paused, waiting for their response.

After a moment of silence, Link began. "Well, it might work, we just have to make sure that we know where the others are so that we don't accidentally shot lasers at each other."

"Can we do that? I thought that we were supposed to get registered so that that would not become an issue," Zelda asked, looking over at Midna.

"Yeah, I think so, or at least I heard that Kafei accidentally hit Riju when we were here last year because he didn't recognise her, and I know that they were on the same team, so unless that's just a lie, you absolutely can end up hitting your teammates," Midna said with a nod.

"Maybe the plan isn't that good then," Zelda said, looking down at the ground in defeat, "I mean, I don't know about you guys, but I know that I'm not the best at taking the time to stop and think when I get put under pressure, so—"

Mipha interrupted her, waving aside Zelda's hesitation. "No, I think the plan is good enough. We'll just split up so that you and Midna can stay together, that should lower the risk of you mistaking us for someone else, right, Midna?"

"Sure." Midna threw an arm around Zelda's shoulders. "I'm pretty good at recognising people from a distance, or at least I know that I will be able to recognise the three of you, so if I'm the one calling the shots, then it's going to be fine."

Zelda bowed her head in agreement, and before they got the chance to discuss the details of their plan, the rest of the group was already heading over towards the door leading into the next room, their team following along as well.

At least the part where they had to register themselves wasn't too complicated, they just had to stand in front of a screen that was divided into small sections, each section having one their names in it, and then shoot at their own names to get the laser-gun as well as the vest recognised as theirs, and before Zelda had really had time to worry about the game, they had continued into a maze-like room, where large barriers had been placed throughout the room—Zelda supposed it was to give them something to hide behind. All of the teams meeting in the middle of the room, Thelma reminded them again to make sure that no one would get hurt before each team headed out towards the corners so that they would not stand right next to each other when the game would begin.

"Okay," Midna said, crouching down on the ground so that she was completely hidden by the waist-high barrier behind her, the rest of the team following her lead, "we're going to stick to the plan, Zelda and I go together, and then the rest of you guys are going to split up, giving us four smaller teams in total." she paused, allowing them all to get a moment to nod at her. "Good. Now, Ashei is one of the bests at this game—her team has won for the last two years, and it wouldn't surprise me if she won again this year," she added, looking over at Zelda, "so I think that she should be our main priority."

"Did anyone see where her team went?" Marin asked.

Making sure that she was still hidden behind the barricade, Zelda pointed towards the corner to their left. "I think they went over there, but I'm not completely sure."

"A guess is fine, it's better than having no idea at all," Link said, "but if you and Midna go over on that side of the room, then I will go in the opposite direction, and then Mipha and Marin can try to move through the middle of the room to cut them off from there, then we should be able to have a chance." when no one spoke up to object to the plan, Link continued. "Does anybody know when we will begin?"

"In just a moment, I—" Marin said, the lasts of her words getting interrupted by a loud ringing noise echoing through the room, making Marin slide her left foot over the floor so that she would be ready to get up and run at a moment's notice. "Yes, that was the signal, we have already begun now."

Following their plan, they split up, Zelda and Midna heading back into the maze of objects that both gave them cover but also made Zelda's heart beat slightly faster each time they turned around the corner. In there, walking in between two of the thin, removable walls, it didn't take long before Zelda was no longer sure where the rest of the team was. All she knew was that she and Midna were walking along the makeshift corridor, trying to remember what direction they were supposed to head towards, taking a moment to make sure they agreed about which path they should try next each time they turned around a corner.

I between the two walls, the rest of the sounds in the room sounded distant, and Zelda suspected that, had she been walking alone, she would have found it unnerving. But as Midna was walking next to her, Midna's arm occasionally brushing against Zelda's, sending a shiver down her spine, she only found it a nice change from all of the noise from before.

Midna was the first to break the silence between them. "So, how are you finding laser tag so far?"

"Better than I had expected," Zelda said, "it's surprisingly relaxing."

"Yeah, when you get used to it it's a lot better than it sounds, isn't it?"

"It is."

They continued walking along in silence, turning around yet another corner. Zelda was slowly beginning to wonder if they shouldn't have reached the corner already. The room was spacious, but it was not so large that it should be impossible for them to find another group, or at least that was not the impression Zelda had gotten of it.

Just as Zelda was beginning the possibility of them having made a wrong turn resulting in them now walk around in circles, she heard footsteps coming from around the corner in front of them.

"Midna!" she hissed, grabbing Midna's arm, but Midna had already heard it.

Turning around, the two of them began to run back in the direction they had come from, picking up the pace as the footsteps sped up as well. Shooting a glance behind her, Zelda could see Ashei turn around the corner, smiling at them as she followed suit, easily able to run faster than them.

They needed another plan if they wanted to win.

Spotting another waist-high barrier in front of them, Zelda grabbed Midna's hand and pointed towards the half wall.

"There!" she gasped—already regretting how she had never been all that enthusiastic about Jolene's classes—and Midna changed directions to run towards the obstacle instead.

All thoughts of following the strategy forgotten, Zelda and Midna jumped over the barrier and began sprinting along another corridor of the maze, Ashei following right behind them. Technically, Zelda supposed, they had done their part of the plan, or at least they had found Ashei. Still, it didn't help them much right in that moment.

They ran down along the narrow space between the barrier and the brick wall next to it. Zelda could feel the adrenaline spreading throughout her body as she ran, focused on nothing else than getting enough air into her lungs and try to force her legs to move faster. Vaguely, she remembered all of the times that Jolene had made them run around the school during her lessons and how much she had hated it. But now, the want to win the game far outweighed the growing pain in her side, so Zelda sprinted after Midna, almost able to run faster than her friend.

It didn't take long before they found themselves back out in the open space in the middle of the room.

"The left one!" Midna yelled, already racing towards the opening into the maze.

As she followed along behind Midna, Zelda was sure that she saw Riju pass by them, but neither she nor Riju stopped, so Zelda ignored it, unable to muster the energy necessary if she wanted to figure out what was happening in the rest of the room.

Behind them, they could no longer hear Ashei's footsteps, so after having turned the first corner, Zelda and Midna stopped to catch their breath.

"Do you think we lost her?" Midna asked, having already gone to sit down on the floor, hugging her right leg against her chest as she tried to breathe faster in an attempt to get enough oxygen into her lungs.

"Maybe. At least, I don't think she know which direction we went."

They were wrong, and seconds later, Shad turned around the corner in front of them.

Acting purely out of instinct and the want to not let down the rest of her team, Zelda reacted quickly, and within seconds, she had pulled Midna to her feet and took off running, dragging Midna along behind her.

She hardly had time to think as she raced along the corridor, headed directly towards Shad, which was probably also the reason why Shad got a confused look on his face as she ran right past him rather than away from him, a confusion that meant that he didn't get to react in time, allowing Zelda and Midna to run right past him. But then he caught on to what they were doing and ran after them, the sounds of their feet hitting the uneven flooring echoing around them as they made their way back into the labyrinth yet again.

Zelda could hear how he was trying to hit them, but since the small patches on her vest didn't react, she supposed that he was as bad at aiming as she was. Still, Zelda decided not to take any unnecessary risks and began to zigzag while running.

Behind them, the sound of Shad running grew distant, and as Midna pushed Zelda along, Zelda just began to think that maybe they had actually succeeded in avoiding him.

Then she felt a sharp pull on her arm, dragging her backwards.

Zelda didn't have to look back to know that Midna had tripped over and indent in the floor—not with the loud curse Midna let out—but knowing the reasons for the fall didn't help her as she struggled to stay upright, only managing to stand still for a fraction of a second before she too lost her balance.

The time it took her to fall to the floor both felt like it dragged on for eternity and like it had barely taken more than a heartbeat as Zelda panicked, all thoughts of attempting to break her fall leaving her head as she waited, pressing her eyes shut, bracing herself for the impact.

But the impact never came.

Zelda felt Midna's arm wrap protectively around her, not doing much to slow the fall, but then Midna twisted around, still halfway through the fall, somehow managing to both break the fall by planting her left hand solidly on the floor and stop Zelda's as well, pulling her into a tight embrace and placing her hand on the back of her head as their fall continued, Midna's attempt of stopping it only slowing it down somewhat, so that, instead of hitting the floor face first, the two of them rolled across the floor, the momentum making them continue for a moment before the movement slowed down.

Opening her eyes, Zelda realised that she had somehow managed to not get hurt throughout it all.

Granted, the fall was stopped rather abruptly, she would probably get a few bruises—especially on her elbow which had been the first part of her to hit the floor—and Zelda would never classify it as a nice experience, but the back of the head had not hit the floor.

Then she looked up and her heart might as well have stopped.

Midna had begun to get up from the floor, having pressed her hands against the ground so that she would not fall back down on Zelda, though the risk of that happening seemed so small as Midna grinned down at her, her eyes shining as she laughed.

"Whoa, for a moment, I actually though we were not going to survive that. What about you, are you okay?"

Zelda rubbed her elbow, trying to make her body remember how she was supposed to get back up again. "Yes, I'm fine."

Midna opened her mouth, but before she got the chance to say anything, Shad turned around the corner.

He might not have been very good at aiming, but Zelda could still see how the squares on her vest turned green as the sensors reacted to the laser-gun, the light making shadows appear on Midna's face.

"Ashei, I got them!" Shad exclaimed, jumping up and down in excitement as Ashei joined them in the corridor, smiling at Shad.

"Yeah, I told you my plan would work," she said, turning around to look at Midna and Zelda, her tone instantly changing as she ran over to crouch down next to them, a concerned look on her face. "Wait, are you two okay?"

"Yes, nothing to worry about," Midna laughed, getting up and extending a hand towards Zelda to help her up as well. Zelda accepted it, trying to ignore the way butterflies flittered around in her stomach as Midna beamed at her.

Shad came over to them as well, shooting Midna and Zelda and apologetic look as he fidgeted with the laser-gun. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise that you had fallen over, I'm so sorry—"

"Don't be." Midna held up her hand at him. "It was my fault anyway; I just forgot to actually lift up my foot properly."

It took a while to convince both Ashei and Shad that they were fine, but at last, they left them, giving Midna and Zelda a chance to join the game again.

But even as Midna motioned for Zelda to follow her as she began to sneak down the corridor like nothing had happened, Zelda found that she could not focus on the game.

All she could think of as the two of them tiptoed around, trying to find the rest of their team again to form a new plan, was the fact that she could no longer deny that she was in love with Midna.

As Midna had predicted, Ashei's team ended up winning, beating the second team by getting almost double the amount of points as them. The team consisting of Midna, Zelda, Marin, Mipha and Link wasn't even in the top five, but at least they hadn't lost completely either, something Zelda tried to repeat herself as they got back on the bus, feeling tired, worn out, and with a sore elbow.

Zelda leant back in her seat as the buss took off, trying to not think too much about her elbow. Next to her, Midna was still in great spirits even though she had to have been more hurt by the fall than Zelda, talking nonstop throughout the bus ride. The fact that Midna was so intent on continuing the conversation made it slightly awkward for Zelda. How was she supposed to act to not make it obvious that she was in love?

Nayru, how everything had been more simple just a couple of weeks ago.

"So we didn't exactly win," Midna stated, Zelda shaking her head to her words, "but it was still pretty funny wasn't it?"

"I mean, until we had to run to get away from Ashei and Shad and feel over, then yes, it was pretty funny."

"But you'd still have preferred to spend the time in the library with a book?" Midna finished the sentence for her.

"Yes."

"Okay, that's cool as well. But I'm still happy that you at least somewhat enjoyed yourself," Midna said, nudging Zelda in the side with her elbow.

Feeling her cheeks turning warmer, Zelda reached up to tap her finger against her cheek, pretending that she was just tired, giving her a chance to at least hide the blush she was sure was spreading across her face for a moment. How was she supposed to handle this?

But even despite the problems that had arisen along with the realisation that her romantic feelings for Midna were not just something she was imagining, Zelda would not have changed it, going back to the time before the realisation. It wasn't only because she would rather not forget about her feelings—rather know that you were in love only for that love to not be returned than not know at all—but also because the time she had spent _not knowing_ had been horrid.

"Look," Midna said, reaching over to almost shove her hand in Zelda's face, effectively pulling her back to the present, "look at my hands."

"Could you maybe move them so that I can actually get a chance to see what you're trying to show me?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry." Midna moved her hands a bit, and now Zelda could see the scrapes on both palms.

"What happened?" Zelda asked, trying to not let herself act too concerned. It was just scrapes, not a fatal wound, there was no need for her to start acting like Midna was dying.

Midna smiled at her. "I tried to slow our fall, of course."

"Oh," Zelda said, searching for words, "I'm sorry about that."

"Hey, don't be." Midna reached out, placing a hand on her shoulder as she turned to look directly into Zelda's eyes. "Look, I was the idiot who tripped in the first place, and I was also the idiot who thought that she could break the fall with only one arm. These scrapes are on me— both literally and figuratively."

Zelda knew she was blushing now, she had to be. She tried to force out an answer, but she could only stammer something about how she could probably have helped more as well.

"Wait, Midna, are you hurt?" Zelda could not have been happier when Mipha chimed in, leaning over form the seat behind Midna.

"No, it's nothing, just a few scrapes, really, don't worry about it," Midna said, breaking eye contact with Zelda to turn towards Mipha.

That response didn't seem to be enough to satisfy Mipha who just shook her head. "I have a couple of plasters in my bag, do you want one?"

"Yes, she would want one," Zelda said, cutting in before Midna had the chance to decline. Maintaining eye contact with Midna all the way, Zelda reached over to accept the little, colourful plaster that Mipha was handing her.

"Zelda, I would have been fine without it, really, it's just a few scrapes, that has never killed anyone before," Midna continued as Zelda removed the piece of paper covering the sticky side of the plaster. But there was none of the usual stubbornness present in her voice, and when Zelda held out the plaster, Midna held out her hand for Zelda.

"I think that there has to have been at least one person who has died from blood poisoning as a result of not taking proper care of wounds who would disagree with you," Zelda teased her as she tried to figure out how to angle the plaster to cover all of the damaged skin.

"I doubt it. Besides, a scrape is in no way a wound."

"Maybe not, but there has to be at least one person who has gotten blood poisoning after getting a scrape, I have read about people dying from the most ridiculous things, so there simply has to." Zelda said, pressing the plaster against Midna's palm. Midna winced slightly at the contact, making Zelda instantly let go of her hand. "Sorry."

"No, it's fine, I just wasn't prepared for it to sting like that." Midna said, rubbing her hands together, something Zelda could not imagine being particularly pleasant, before looking back over at her. "But speaking of ridiculous deaths, what do you think about the Hero?"

"The Hero?" Zelda repeated. "What's so ridiculous about the way they died?"

"Well, it wasn't as dumb in the original legend, but in the musical, the Hero just kind of… lets go of the sword and dies. I get that there were a couple of heart-wrenching songs during that scene, but they are also about the only thing keeping it from almost becoming comedic. Don't you see the comedic potential in the hero of the story just dropping dead all of a sudden?"

"There was a death scene," Zelda argued.

"Oh, yeah, the one where you cradled me in your arms while we sang a duet, I remember that one, but I wouldn't say that it removed the comedic part."

Zelda's stomach did a somersault at Midna's words. That was not how she had seen the scene, but now that Midna had mentioned it, she doubted she would ever be able to view it as anything but that.

Still, she tried to push the butterflies in her stomach away, continuing to argue. "It was tragic; the Hero had their entire life ahead of them, but then they got killed by Demise."

"I wouldn't exactly say they had their entire life ahead of them," Midna said, "the Hero was imprisoned at the start of the story, the only reason those friends even bothered to free them was because they needed the Hero to fight for them."

"Okay, you're right about that one," Zelda admitted, "but still, didn't you want to cry during the death scene?"

Midna was quiet for such a long time that Zelda began to wonder if she had even heard the question. But just as Zelda was about to repeat herself again, Midna coughed silently and looked over at her, her expression uncharacteristically serious.

"Of course that scene was sad. But for me at least, it wasn't as much because of the Hero and the story, it was about you."

"Is my singing really that bad?" Zelda tried to joke. From the way that Midna looked down at the floor, it was clear that it had not been the right moment, and when Midna looked back at her again, Zelda could see the cheery expression Midna was forcing onto her face.

"Well, you were the one to say it," Midna laughed, gently elbowing Zelda.

The rest of the bus ride home, Midna continued making jokes about the musical. But even as she laughed along to them, Zelda couldn't help but wonder what Midna had really meant, already regretting the joke she had made. Why could she not just have stayed silent? Then she would perhaps have gotten her answer already.

But no matter how much Zelda wished she had done something else, fact was that she had made that joke, and now, she would probably never find out what Midna had been about to say. And to add to her problems, the butterflies in her stomach did not disappear, much like how Zelda had come to realise that her feelings for Midna would not simply go away either.

They arrived back home at the school just early enough to allow them to bring their backpacks up to their room before they had to head into the dining hall for dinner.

Zelda followed, shuffling along a couple of steps behind Midna, Anju, and Cremia as they walked up the stairs. Even though she was trying not to think too much about what had happened between herself and Midna during the bus ride, it seemed to be the only thing her brain was willing to focus on, and so, no matter how much Zelda tried to force herself to think about something else, she always ended up back there, wondering about what Midna had been about to say.

Splitting up, Anju and Zelda went on their way over to their own dorm while Cremia and Midna continued ahead. Zelda couldn't help but send a glance after Midna, whishing that things didn't have to be so complicated between them. Granted, she was the only one suffering from that problem. As long as Zelda didn't tell Midna anything about how her feelings for her were no longer able to qualify for the description of 'strictly platonic', she was the only one who would have to deal with the pain of having to hide them away to not end up ruining their friendship.

But still, it was exhausting, so the moment the door closed behind them, Zelda walked over to throw herself onto her bed, completely worn-out, a feeling not only brought on by having spent much of her day running around in a poorly lit maze.

"Tired?" Anju commented.

Zelda looked over at her. The redhead didn't look weary at all. In fact, she looked like she was enjoying herself, walking over to dump her bag onto the floor next to her desk before turning around to face Zelda again.

"Anju, you were right." Zelda didn't realise she had been about to say anything before the words had already left her mouth and Anju knitted her eyebrows, a confused look on her face.

"About what?"

Realising that there was no way back now that she had already begun, Zelda decided that she might as well admit it all.

Rolling over and propping her elbows up, resting her head in the palms of her hands, Zelda tried to fight the nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach as she explained. "You were right… about Midna and me"

Anju let out a gasp, instantly reaching up to cover her mouth with her hand. "I'm sorry… it's just, I had not expected you to say that."

"Yeah, me neither."

Zelda feel the mattress sink down a little as Anju sat down next to her on the bed and placed a hand on her shoulder, leaning in to look her in the eye. "Zelda… do you want me to say anything or would you rather we just be silent?"

"No, it's fine, I don't mind you talking."

"Good." despite Zelda's words, Anju still went quiet for a while, just sitting there next to her before continuing. "I'm happy that you told me about it. Zelda, I really am."

She looked over at Anju, halfway expecting it to be a joke. Why would Anju want to become involved in the mess between Zelda and Midna? Personally, Zelda knew that if she had been in Anju's situation, she would rather not have known, so that, should things get out of hand, she could truthfully say that she had not had any idea about what had been going on.

"Why?"

Anju shot her a look like she couldn't understand the question. "Because I can see that it affects you and I don't want you to have to deal with that all on your own. When I know what's going on, I also have a better chance of knowing what to do and how to help you."

Zelda could feel the tears forming in her eyes, making her vision become blurred along the edges. Why was she crying so much recently? She could almost not recognise herself, not as she was right now, crying on her bed because she had realised she was in love with her best friend and didn't know how to handle it to keep her feelings from tearing their friendship apart.

"I just don't know what to do," she finally admitted, her shoulders sinking down, "I don't know how I can make this go away so that it won't end up ruining our friendship."

"Well, I think the first step would be to accept that you feelings won't disappear just because you want them to," Anju said, patting Zelda on the shoulder, "but I also don't think that it means they will ruin your friendship with Midna—just look at Cremia and me, we ended up telling each other, and we're still friends, only now we are also dating as well."

"I know, but that's different. You two knew that the other one would return your feelings, so there wasn't the risk of making it awkward between your."

"Maybe, but neither of us knew that when we first told each other. We just had to take the leap of faith and hope for the best. Now, in hindsight, I actually think that that was the best thing we could have done, even if one of us had not felt the same way about the other, it still meant that we were able to be honest with each other instead of having to keep up the façade."

Looking down at the blue duvet, inspecting it for any loose threads, Zelda toyed with the idea of following Anju and Cremia's lead and actually tell Midna. She knew that the risk of Midna telling her that she did not feel the same way about her was great, but being honest would still mean that Zelda at the very least would not have to be so overly aware of everything she was doing while they were around each other. Besides, the little, hopeful part of her that she wasn't able to ignore completely kept on clinging to the hope that maybe there was a chance that Midna would actually end up reciprocating the feelings. It was wishful thinking, Zelda knew that, but until she had told Midna and gotten rejected, she could not know for sure.

Perhaps that was also part of the reason she wanted not to say anything. Until she had confessed and Midna had said no, Zelda would still be able to hope for a miracle, to hope that Midna would perhaps turn out to feel the same way about her.

"I just don't know how to do it," Zelda said, her voice barely more than a whisper as she looked up at Anju, "I have thought about telling her, I really have, but I just… can't do it."

"And that's okay. You don't have to tell her if you don't want to yourself, I'm just trying to tell you that should you ever want to tell her, I can help you with it. And if you did, then maybe—just maybe—you'll actually end up getting surprised by the answer."

"Why? Have you heard anything?" Zelda said, mentally berating herself for the hopeful tone she couldn't keep out of her voice.

Anju hesitated, looking down at her for a moment. "No, I haven't heard anything," when Zelda's face fell, Anju hurried to add, "but that doesn't mean that there isn't a chance—you know that I'm not the best at keeping up with the gossip here, so even if someone had heard anything, I would probably not know about it. But not matter what, she's your friend, so even if you end up telling her and she doesn't feel the same way about you, I'm sure that she will at least tell you that in a kind way."

Zelda turned her gaze back towards the duvet. She wasn't sure if such a way even existed. No matter how much Midna would probably try to sugarcoat it, Zelda knew that it was better for her to simply not tell her and avoid that situation entirely.

"If you say so," Zelda mumbled, trying to avoid the urge to pick at the fabric.

"Look, Zelda," Anju said with a sigh, "I really think that you should say it—I can see that you haven't really been yourself ever since I first brought up the subject, and even though I know that you don't believe me, I'm going to repeat that I don't think telling Midna will end up destroying your friendship—but if you don't want to, then I won't try to make you. I'm just telling you that I'm right here, and I know that Cremia is as well."

"Wait, Cremia doesn't know, does she?" Zelda shot up from her relaxed position, staring at Anju with a panicked expression.

"No, I told you that I wouldn't tell anyone so I haven't said anything to her," Anju said, the assurance making Zelda's heartrate return to its usual rhythm, "and I won't tell her until the day you tell me that it would be okay for me to do so."

"Okay, good," Zelda breathed, "sorry for freaking out there, it's just…"

"Hard to talk about?" Anju suggested, and Zelda smiled at her.

"Yeah, it is."

"I get that, so I won't try to convince you any more than I have already done."

A weird feeling settled in Zelda's chest, a mix halfway between relief and disappointment. She tried to hide it behind a smile, shooting Anju a grateful glance. "Thank you."

"It's nothing."

The sound of someone knocking on the door leading out into the hallway echoed through the room, and the next moment, both Midna and Cremia had entered, closing the door behind them as they made their way over to where Zelda and Anju were sitting.

"Hey, aren't you two going to join us for dinner?" Cremia asked, dropping down onto the bed. "We have been waiting for you for ages."

"We were." Anju got up, turning around to look back at Cremia. "Zelda and I just forgot the time."

From her position over by the door, Midna chuckled. "Well, at least that's something I can relate to; although I wish my teachers would accept it as a reason as to why I mostly turn in my assignments a week after the day it was due." clasping her hands together, she leant up against the wall and blinked at Zelda. "But if we want to get our usual table, we should probably get going now."

"Of course," Anju agreed, reaching out to pull Cremia up from the bed as well.

Swinging her legs out over the side of her bed, Zelda tried to ignore how the butterflies in her stomach seemed to have grown both in size and numbers as she walked over to join the rest of her friends. Before long, they were all heading downstairs towards the dining room, and Zelda was almost able to ignore the fact that Midna was walking so close to her that their hands kept brushing against each other.


	15. Chapter 15

Had Thelma rearranged the chairs during the last couple of days?

Zelda could have sworn that she had moved them closer to each other since the last time they had rehearsed, so that she was now sitting practically right next to Midna, desperately trying to focus on what Thelma was telling them instead of the light, flowery fragrance of Midna's perfume. She was almost completely sure that it was something new, it had to be, Zelda would not have paid that much attention to it if that was not the case.

Listening with half an ear to Thelma's words, Zelda tried to identify the smell, but ending up stuck between thinking that it was some kind of flower mixed with honey and that it was only something flowery. Giving up on getting any closer to an answer, Zelda tried her best to ignore the distraction and turned back towards Thelma, though she knew that she did not quite succeed in doing that.

"Now, since we are reusing the costumes, Jolene is pretty optimistic about when she and the students who have signed up to be on the costume team will be able to have them finished, so if everything goes according to her plan, we will be able to start practicing with the costumes already this Wednesday. Of course, there's the risk that not all of the costumes are going to be ready by then, but we will just try to make do without them until they are—don't worry, there's still plenty of time before everything really has to be ready. But no matter what, we are probably going to spend most of this session on getting all of your measurements, so that should be a nice change of pace for all of you guys," Thelma said, a couple of students nodding in agreement.

Looking around, Zelda couldn't help but think that an entire rehearsal session dedicated to nothing but getting the costumes ready was probably also a nice break for the orchestra members. Their corner of the room was completely empty, Kass being the only one still present and even then, Zelda was certain that it was not because of his connection to the orchestra, but rather about his involvement with the musical in general.

"In a couple of minutes, Jolene should be ready for us to come over and join her, but let me just make sure that we are all on the same page in regards to what the schedule for the time we will spend rehearsing over the next couple of weeks is going to look like." Thelma said, digging a folded up sheet of paper out of her pocket. "This entire week, we are going to try to get the costumes done," she began once she had unfolded the schedule, "and we will also run through the show with all of the technology and lightning in place, just so that you will also have time to adjust to that. Zelda," at the mention of her name, Zelda pricked up her ears, "this means that the platform is ready, so the next time the manuscript calls for you to come flying down on your Loftwing, you will have to start up above the stage to then be lowered down. Are you ready for that?"

Leaning over towards Zelda, Midna took her hand, brushing her thumb over Zelda's knuckles. Zelda could feel her hands grow clammy as her heart began beating a little faster, but she tried her best to make herself calm down as she met Thelma's gaze.

"Completely."

"That's good to hear. Then, when we get to Saturday this week, we are going to go through the entire show. It doesn't matter if we don't have the time to run through every scene with everything in place, and it doesn't matter if not all of the costumes are ready by then; Saturday we have go run through it all, just to give us an idea of what to work on. Because next week, we are going to spend most of our time polishing act one, and then the week after that, we will make sure that act two is perfect as well, and then, hopefully, we should still be able to manage to go over the show one last time that Saturday as well, just to make sure that we are completely ready when Monday arrives. And, to add one last thing, I'm sure you all already knew this since it is in the schedules, but starting Wednesday, we are off-book. That means that I expect you all to have done your best to have your lines memorised by then. Is that understood?"

No one raised any objections, and Thelma shoved the schedule back into her pocket, a wide smile on her face. "Perfect. Then, I think it's time for us to go over and join Jolene and the students who will be in charge of adjusting the costumes to fit all of you now."

Chairs rattled across the floor as they all got up, following along after Thelma as she exited the room only to enter the classroom located on the opposite side of the hallway.

"Don't be nervous," Midna whispered to her, inching closer so that she was standing right next to Zelda, "it's not going to take much time, they just have to make sure that you won't end up tripping in a dress that's way too long."

Caught between the need to get enough oxygen down into her lungs to keep up with her frantically beating heart and the thought that if she had to spend any more time breathing in while Midna's perfume was the only thing she could sense, she might just end up fainting, Zelda let out a laughter that sounded fake, even to her. "Yeah, that would be funny though wouldn't it?"

Midna sent her an incredulous look. "Really?"

"Yes. Can you imagine the goddess walking over to the Hero only to fall over because she forgot to lift up her dress to see where she was walking?" the mental picture of it happening was enough to make her chuckle sound more believable. "Just straight up falling over as she goes over to the Hero."

""Sure, I can. I just didn't think that you would also find it funny.

Zelda didn't get a chance to respond to that at Jolene came over, making the entire group around them go silent.

"Now, we don't have a lot of time, and even though we are going to reuse most of the old costumes, I know that there is probably going to be a couple of garments that we have to make again from scratch, so if you would please help us out while we get your measurements, that would be a very much appreciated." Jolene said, stopping for a moment before she began again. "Since there are a lot of roles and therefore also a lot of costumes, I'm afraid that a couple of you guys will have to wait in here for a while, but there are chairs there," she pointed towards the tables that had been pushed out towards the walls of the room, "so if you could please try to at least be somewhat quiet, then that would be nice."

Around Zelda, the hushed conversations stopped, and Jolene smiled for a moment before she began to direct people around the room, asking Midna to go over to sit on one of the chairs. Midna let go of Zelda's hand, and Zelda did her best to not stare after her as she walked away.

Before long, Zelda and Mipha had been paired up, Zelda following along behind Mipha as she went over to grab a hanger with what looked like a black refuse bag hanging from it. Wordlessly handing the hanger over to Zelda, Mipha continued searching through the bottom of the cupboard, finally stopping when she found two rolls of measuring tape.

"Tell me, Zelda," Mipha said, comparing one of the measuring tapes to the other before finally settling on the first one, "would you prefer it if we found another room? I know that Jolene has told people to be quiet, but trust me, they never manage to stay that way for very long."

Almost like they wanted to prove Mipha right, two of the first-year students sitting in the chairs next to where Zelda and Mipha were standing burst out laughing, seemingly unbothered by the stern glance Jolene sent their way.

Still eyeing the two students, Zelda nodded at Mipha. "Yeah, if it isn't too much of an issue, then I would like to be in a place with less noise."

"Cool, then just follow me." Mipha began making her way through the room, and Zelda made sure to stay close to her as the people around her kept walking into both of them on accident, each instance of it making Zelda clutch the hanger a little tighter to avoid anyone stepping on the bag.

They somehow made it to the door without any major incidents, and before Zelda knew of it, they had left the noise behind, instead walking over to the next-door classroom.

"Okay, do you want to see the state of the dress you'll be wearing during the show?" Mipha asked, reaching out to take the hanger. When Zelda nodded, she fiddled with the bag for a couple of seconds before finding a zip fastener and removing the bag entirely, revealing a sparkling white dress.

It was nothing like the one Zelda had seen exhibited in the museum in Kakariko Village, nor did it look like the dress the actress playing Hylia had worn in the Hateno production of the show. If Zelda had to be cynical, she could see how many of the differences had probably been caused by the fact that the dress had to be cheaper, given how the school's budget was nowhere near the ones of bigger musical productions, but even then, the dress was impressive, the fabric a brilliant white colour and with some kind of yellow thread decorating the hem.

"Wow," Zelda breathed, instinctively stepping closer to the garment.

"Yeah, it's pretty isn't it? Look at the fabric, it might not be the most comfortable thing to wear, but it's going to look beautiful, especially once the lights are on you, letting the smaller threads reflect the light," Mipha said, an adoring tone in her voice as she took in the sight in front of them.

Tearing her gaze away from the dress, Zelda looked back over at Mipha. "Wait, did you sew this?"

Midna laughed. "I wish, but no, it has been six years since the last time this school put on Skyward, and this dress was made for that occasion—but thank you for thinking that I could have made this, it means a lot."

Now that Mipha had told her, Zelda could remember something about Thelma saying that it was not the first time they would do Skyward. "Oh, yeah, that's right. Did they then just hide it away?"

"From what I've been told, they already knew that they would want to try to put on Skyward again, so Jolene tried her best to make sure that everything would be able to survive for as long as possible." Mipha leant forward to inspect the dress, her eyes quickly scanning over the fabric. Zelda was not exactly sure what kind of damage she was looking for, the dress looked just fine to her, and once they were on stage, the audience would not be able to see any details on her dress.

Audience.

Zelda could feel her chest tighten at the reminder that she would soon have to be up on a stage. Reaching up to touch her necklace, she tried her best to calm herself down, not wanting to trouble Mipha with her worries or make the process take any longer than absolutely necessary.

"Okay," Mipha said, looking back over at Zelda and pulling Zelda back to the moment, "from what I can see, the dress is in a relatively good condition—I might have to do some parts of the embroidery over again, but other than that, it's fine."

"Is that something I can help with?"

"No, not really, but don't worry about it, I wouldn't have volunteered to help with the costumes if I didn't want to do a bit of work on some of them," Mipha said, picking up the measurement tape and walking over to Zelda, "however, I do need your to stand up straight right now so that I can make sure the dress will not be too short or too long for you."

Zelda did as she said, and before long, Mipha had taken out a notepad and a pen, pausing the measuring from time to time to instead scribble numbers onto the paper.

"So how is the work divided between you and the others who have chosen to help with the costumes?" Zelda asked, trying her best to keep the conversation going between them.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, do you have… kind of one thing that you do, you know, like embroidery for example, or does everyone do a little bit of everything?"

Looking up from her notepad, Mipha shook her head. "Neither. We agreed that it would be better if only one person worked on each costume so that we won't risk that some of it doesn't get finished in time because no one was responsible for it. Besides, it also means that if my numbers are almost illegible, then that's my own problem, given that I'm the only one who will have to use them later."

"Oh, okay," Zelda said, trying to pretend that that was something she had ever given a thought before. Maybe that was why she had never been good in any of the classes Jolene taught.

They both went silent. Zelda tried to come up with another subject to talk about, but ended up with no ideas other than continuing to talk about the costumes. From the way that Mipha continued to work in silence, shifting between looking at the measurement tape and staring down into her notepad, an intense look in her eyes, Zelda wasn't sure that Mipha even wanted to talk with her while working, so she stayed silent as well.

In between the lack of conversation as well as the awkwardness of Mipha constantly having to ask Zelda to move a bit to get her measurements, it felt like it had taken ages when Mipha finally picked up her notepad, shoving it back into her pocket, even though Zelda knew that it could hardly have taken more than ten minutes.

"I think I have it all now," Mipha said, and Zelda was relieved to hear that her tone was as warm as it had always been, "or at least I should be able to make sure that the costume fits you—and that should be enough for now, so let's get back to the classroom to tell that to Jolene."

"Look, if I said anything—"

"No," Midna held up her hand, stopping Zelda before she had even gotten started, "no, you didn't say anything, I'm just not the best at remembering a lot of numbers at once, so I couldn't talk much while measuring you."

Zelda tried to hide the way her shoulders—that she had already pulled up a bit—went down as she was once again able to relax. "Oh, I didn't know that."

"Of course you didn't, I should probably have told you beforehand," Mipha said, already walking over to open the door leading out into the hallway.

They returned to the classroom only for the noise being loud enough to almost make Zelda turn around and head back outside again.

As she made herself stay in the room and look around, she couldn't have been more grateful for the fact that Mipha had thought to offer her that they could go into another room, for the classroom was in a state of almost total chaos.

It wasn't only because of the commotion of everyone trying to make their way around the room, though it was a big part of it, it was also the fact that Zelda could spot at least a handful of loose buttons lying on each of the tables, a few of them dangerously close to falling off, small squares of fabric scattered throughout the room, and Jolene standing in the centre of it all, trying to get the chaos under control.

Jolene spotted Mipha and Zelda standing by the door and, leaving a mess of tangled up balls of yarn behind, she went over to them.

"Mipha, I'm happy to see that you're back already—apparently one of the other classes have used this room just before us and decided not to tidy up as they left, so it's almost impossible to find anything in here right now," Jolene said, speaking so quickly that Zelda had a hard time understanding her.

But it seemed that it was what it took for Mipha to understand, and the next moment, she had left, walking right over to one of the tables where Zelda saw her begin to help with organising the balls of yarn.

Not really knowing what to do with herself and not wanting to be in the way of someone, Zelda tiptoed over to an empty chair located in the corner of the room. It didn't help much on the chaos around her, but the fact that the chairs surrounding hers were empty made Zelda feel a little bit less like she was squeezed in where she didn't belong.

From her spot, Zelda looked around. It helped a bit on the overwhelming sensation of all of the conversations taking place around her to at least have somewhere to sit, and as Zelda reached up to touch her necklace, the sound of her heart beating got a little less loud in her ears. She was okay; she had gotten through the most important task of the day.

She couldn't see Anju and Midna anywhere in the room, and with Anju's bright red hair and Midna's general love for talking, Zelda doubted that it was because she had overlooked them. They had to have gone to another classroom just as Mipha and Zelda had done to get away from all of the noise.

But at least she located Cremia standing in the back of the room, engrossed in a conversation with a tiny girl wearing one of the biggest dresses Zelda had ever seen. Glancing up for a moment, Cremia saw Zelda look over at her, and sent her a short smile. Zelda returned the gesture even though she didn't feel much like smiling.

At least Midna entered the room only a couple of minutes later, running over to sit down in the seat next to Zelda's the moment she spotted her.

"How did it go?" Midna asked, having to flail wildly with her arms as her momentum almost caused the chair to fall over to the side.

Reaching out to help her friend regain her balance, Zelda let go of the necklace. "It went well, I think."

"You think?"

"Well, the dress was beautiful."

Midna looked straight ahead, a dreamy look in her eyes. "Yes, that's also what Thelma has told us at least once a year during the past two years." the twinkle disappeared as Midna focused on Zelda again. "But I'm sensing a 'but'?"

"I just don't like thinking about the fact that I will soon have to get up on the stage. I mean, as long as I don't think about it too much, I can kind of deal with it, but knowing that Mipha is going to alter the dress so that it fits me specifically, it just… it means that I can't not think about it." Zelda looked down at her hands, all too aware of the sorrowful look Midna was sending her.

"Then don't think about it." the unexpected answer made Zelda forget all of her reasons for not meeting Midna's gaze, and she looked up to see that Midna's expression was not one of pity. Rather, she was looking over at Zelda with an almost fond look in her eyes.

"What?" Zelda asked.

Midna leant over towards her, and Zelda could only hope that her cheeks and ears were not as red as they should be considering how they were growing warmer. Nayru, they were sitting close to each other.

"If thinking about it makes it worse for you then me telling you that it's going to be okay isn't going to help, so what about that we instead sit here and compete so see who can be the first to make Cremia laugh?"

Zelda followed Midna's line of sight over towards Cremia who was still absorbed in her chat with the other girl.

"Okay. Let's do that."

It didn't take long until Zelda had to admit that she was no match for Midna's ability to predict when Jolene would look over at them with such an accuracy that it was almost like she could see what was going on behind her and then quickly sit up straight again, looking like the textbook definition of a student who did as the teacher had told her to and sat still, staying quiet throughout the entire process. It was almost enough to make Zelda give up the first time she saw Midna lean back and pretend that she had not just tried to get Cremia's attention by blinking rapidly, her face twisting into one grimace after another. But only almost. Zelda was not giving up just yet, not even when faced with what was clearly a challenge she could not win

Tuesday evening was spent in Zelda and Anju's room, all four of them sitting on the floor between the two beds, mugs filled with tea, a plate with crispbread, and their manuscripts placed between them as they tried to quiz each other on their lines, all four of them doing their best not to look down at the pages in front of them.

"Cremia," Midna said, brushing a few crumbs off her fingers before she picked up her manuscript to flip through it, pausing as she got to the right page and pointing over at Cremia, "okay, we got to act one, scene two, one of the other townspeople, the one played by Riju, has just yelled 'look! Up at the sky, someone is coming!' What is your line now?"

Cremia closed her eyes, whispering the words aloud to herself as she tried to avoid looking down at the script in front of her.

A couple of seconds passed before Cremia opened her eyes again and looked over at Midna. "'Get to the cannons!' that's it, isn't it?"

Midna nodded and Cremia let out a victorious shout, reaching over to pull Anju in for a hug. "I got it!"

Laughing at her girlfriend's excitement, Anju sat down her cup of tea to hug her back. "Good job, now we just have to continue on like that for the rest of the musical."

"Exactly," Midna said, still looking down at the manuscript as she gestured towards Zelda, "this is where you are going to come down on your platform—sorry, Loftwing— singing Ballad of the Goddess."

Zelda tried her best not to let the familiar sense of dread and nervousness get the better of her. However, the keyword to her attempt was 'tried', and before long, her breathing sped up, her heart following along as Zelda frantically tried to calm down again before her friends would have time to catch on. It wasn't a particularly nice thought, but Zelda couldn't help but wish that she could turn time back so that it could be the way it used to be between her and Midna, back before Zelda had grown so aware of where Midna was, the distance between them, or the way that Midna would let out an extra short chuckle as she tried to catch her breath in between laughs.

"Zelda?"

"Yes?" Zelda looked up to see Midna looking at her with an amused look, Anju and Cremia looking back and forth between them.

"Do you remember your line?"

"Uh, yes." Searching through her brain, it took a moment for Zelda to remember just what she was supposed to say, far too long for her, but at last, she recalled it.

The nods she received from both Midna, Anju, and Cremia confirmed that she had been correct, allowing Zelda to let out a sigh of relief as they continued along, Midna reading Shad's lines aloud for them. She had to get better about it. Zelda was fairly sure that her lack of attention had not caused suspicion, after all, she had had moments like that before, all caused by the musical, but the issue of trying to figure out whether or not she should confess her feelings to Midna made it even harder than it normally was to focus, and Zelda was sure that it was only a matter of time until Midna began to worry and ask questions, questions Zelda knew she would not be able to answer with a lie, not if Midna was the one to ask.

So, forcing herself to ignore the way that Midna's lips curled upwards at something Anju had said, Zelda tried to empty her mind, focusing on nothing but the fact that they were supposed to go over their lines and make sure they could them all.

"'I will fight until my death to defend you as well as the people around me— the Demon King will not be victorious'," Midna said, looking up from the script as she recited her own lines.

That was Zelda's cue, so she looked over at Midna, trying her best to not let her emotions distract her as she responded.

The scene came to an end, and Midna placed the papers down in front of her, looking around at them. "I think we did pretty well," Midna declared, "should we continue on to the next scene now?"

Both Anju and Cremia nodded, but Zelda spoke up. "I don't think that I was quick enough with my lines, maybe we should go over it one more time."

"What are you talking about?" Cremia asked, hand resting on top of the crispbread she had been about to grab from the plate. "You did well."

"I forgot my lines," Zelda argued, but it only resulted in Midna joining in, shaking her head at her.

"Maybe you did for a moment, but you remembered them again and managed to deliver them in time. Besides, when we are on stage it's not supposed to sound like you are reading it off a mental picture of the manuscript, so it's fine if it takes half a second before you say anything, your lines don't have to follow directly after the one before."

"Yeah, but I still have to be able to remember it."

"Zelda," there was something about hearing Midna say her name that made Zelda instantly stop her argument, "we can go over the scene again if you really want to— yes, Cremia, we can, there's plenty of time," Midna said, speaking quickly as Cremia opened her mouth to protest, "but can we just agree that you actually do know your lines and that we are only doing this so that you don't have to worry and not because you actually forgot?"

"Yes," Zelda whispered, and Midna gave her an approving nod as she turned over the pages until she was back at the start of the scene again.

Looking up from the script, Midna shot Anju and Cremia a glance as well. "Are you two okay with it as well?"

"Sure," Cremia said, while Anju only bowed her head, looking over at Zelda with a look in her eyes that looked a bit too much like concern for Zelda to be entirely comfortable with it. But at least Anju didn't comment on it, and they resumed rehearsing their lines.

However, even as the remorse set in as Zelda realised that she was the one who had made them start over and that, should it turn out that they would not have enough time to go over the entire musical, then it would be her fault and her fault alone, Zelda found that no matter how much she tried, she simply could not focus, her mind too occupied with worrying about the show.

But mostly, the issue was that Zelda could hardly look over at Midna without feeling like her heart was going to jump right out of her chest.

In the end, they managed to make their way through the entire musical, something that made Zelda feel a little calmer as they all got up from the floor, Midna volunteering to take the mugs and the plate back down to the kitchen, an offer that both Zelda, Anju, and Cremia accepted without hesitation. For Zelda it was mostly a question of not having the energy to even imagine herself leaving the room for a while. Anju and Cremia, meanwhile, seemed to have a date planned, hurrying to exit the room and barely remembering to say goodbye as they closed the door behind them, leaving Zelda alone.

Flopping down onto her bed, Zelda allowed herself to close her eyes for a couple of minutes, being careful not to fall asleep. Lying down on a soft surface did not exactly help on her lack of energy, but she still convinced herself to sit back up again when she noticed how she was beginning to drift off to sleep.

She sat there in the empty room for a while, just staring into the wall in front of her as she tried to organise her thoughts. It was an impossible task—every time Zelda managed to fool herself into thinking that she had gone through everything that could possibly go wrong, both in regards to the musical but also when it came to Midna, a new scenario popped up, begging for her attention. In the back of her head, Zelda was aware of the fact that most of the things she spent time thinking about would most likely never happen, but as she tried to gain any kind of control over the chaos inside of her, they all seemed so plausible.

Zelda needed a distraction, something to take her mind off her feelings and everything that was happening around her.

Her glance settled on the phone next to her on the bedside table. Pushing herself off the bed, Zelda grabbed the phone from the charger and touched the screen a few times, trying to find the contact with her mum's name on.

A faint beep echoed from the phone. Once. Twice. Then, Impa picked up the phone.

"Zelda?" her mum sounded tired. "How are you?"

"I'm…" Zelda paused, not sure about how to explain what was going on. Instead, she tried to change the subject, "are you okay? You sound a bit tired?"

Impa chuckled. "No, Tetra was just not feeling so good last night—she was up almost ten times, so I don't think I got more than a couple of hours of sleep. But, back to you, I don't think you answered the question, so I'll ask you again: how are things going at school?"

"School's going well. I actually got full marks for my last math assignments."

"You know what I meant, Sweetie, how is it going for you?"

The words left her mouth before Zelda had a chance to consider the consequences of them. "I think—no, I know that I'm in love with someone, mum, and I don't know what to do."

Zelda was glad that she was talking with her mum over the phone and not face to face. That way, her mum could not see the way Zelda covered her mouth with her hand, all too aware of the fact that that would not make her able to retract her words.

"You're in love?" her mum repeated, a tone in her voice that Zelda did not know the meaning of. "Was that why you asked me about your dad?"

"Well, I wasn't sure what it was at that time, but yes, I did ask you about dad because I wanted to know if that was what I was feeling."

"But you're sure now?"

Zelda looked down at the floor. Midna's manuscript was still there, having been forgotten as Midna had attempted to find a way to balance four mugs and a plate all at once so that she would only have to make the trip to the kitchen once.

"Yes," Zelda whispered. Her answer was barely audible, but she could only hope that her mum had heard it. Zelda wasn't sure she would have been able to make herself repeat it.

However, it seemed that her mum had very much picked up on what Zelda had said, her response slightly interrupted by the sound of her readjusting the phone. "With whom?"

"I can't tell you." Zelda kept staring down at the script, not trusting herself not to start spiralling if she let herself dwell too much on her answer.

"You haven't confessed yet?"

Deciding that would be a simpler explanation than to attempt to tell her mum about everything that had been going on for the past weeks over the phone, Zelda nodded. "No, I haven't said anything yet. I don't think that they feel the same way about me."

"I'm sure they do, Zelda."

"I'm sorry, but that's not enough to convince me to risk it and try to tell them."

"Why not?"

Zelda rolled her eyes. "Because you have to say that, you have to tell me that of course they will also like me, you're my mum."

She could hear Impa's laughter as she answered. "Perhaps, but I still believe that the best thing you can do for yourself is to be honest with this person. That way, even if they turn you down, you'll at least have gotten an answer."

She considered telling Impa that if she did that, there was a good chance that it could end up meaning the end of her friendship with Midna or at least lead to them becoming awkward around each other. It sounded like an easy solution when Impa suggested it, to risk everything and say it, but Zelda knew it was anything but that.

"I can't, mum," Zelda said, preventing the frustration in her voice from getting too overt, "it's… it's just complicated, okay?"

"How so?"

"I can't explain it… it's just… I do kind of know this person already, so if they turn me down, it's going to get really weird between us."

"Why would it?"

Zelda had to lower the phone down for a moment and just stare at it. Did her mum really not understand why confessing romantic feelings for a friend to the friend in question could fundamentally change the relation between them?

Pressing the phone back to her ear, Zelda tried to not sound as impatient as she felt. "Because, mum, if I tell them and they don't feel the same way about me, then we're going to have this weird thing between us where they know that I am in love with them, but they don't return the feelings, so neither of us can act like we used to, because I will be too busy trying to make my feelings go away, and they will try to prevent a situation where we would ever have to discuss anything about romance again."

"Look, Zelda, I don't know some of your friends that well," Zelda could feel her blood turn to ice. Had her mum guessed that the person Zelda was talking about was more than just an acquaintance? She hoped not and listened intensely as Impa continued, "but do you think that maybe you don't give them enough credit?"

"What do you mean?" Zelda bit her lip. It didn't seem like Impa had guessed whom the conversation was about.

"Zelda, I remember how it was to be a teenager, trust me, it felt like everything was a matter of life and death, so I know that this seems like a big deal. But have you considered that there is a possibility that they will turn you down and that it won't change your friendship in any major way?"

"Of course I have! It's just that I know that if I tell, it will undoubtedly have consequences."

"But is that really such a bad thing?"

The question made Zelda pause for a moment. On some level, her mum was right. No matter how Zelda looked at the situation, fact was that her feelings for Midna meant that she did in fact wish for a change in their relationship. However, Zelda could not predict what kind of change taking the plunge and telling Midna would lead to and it was that risk, the chance that it would destroy everything, Zelda was not willing to take.

"Yes, mum, considering how one of the consequences could entail a ruined friendship or at least a friendship that won't ever be able to return to the way to was before, it could really be a bad thing."

"Zelda, Sweetie," Zelda could hear a poorly hidden smile in her mum's voice, "I know that this is going to sound really annoying and like I don't understand how important it all seems right now, but I can tell you that even if you tell them about all of this and they end up turning you down, and your relationship gets a bit strained for a couple of months, when you look back on the moment a couple of years from now, it's not going to matter at all."

"Yes, you were right, mum, that sounded really annoying," Zelda said, noting the sharp edge to her tone, "because it is really important to me right now, and you telling me that it won't be in a couple of years doesn't help as much as you think it does."

"I'm sorry, I heard that the moment I said it, but my point is that I doubt telling this person about your feelings is going to ruin anything between the two of you."

"But I can't tell them."

Should she mention the musical or would that make her mum realise exactly which friend Zelda was talking about? Zelda considered it. It wasn't like she had that many friends, only Midna, Anju, and Cremia so the fact that the information that Zelda was talking about a friend hadn't been enough to give it away already was a miracle. Adding that she was also worrying about the musical and whether or not a confession would affect that would surely lead to her mum being able to guess the person's identity, so she stayed silent.

"Then don't tell them," her mum continued, and Zelda doubted that she had even noticed how Zelda had clammed up all of a sudden, "look, my point here is that I remember how it felt to be a teenager—yes, I know, I still do—and I get that this must feel like the most important thing to you right now. So if you want to take your time, then do that, as long as you'll let me tell you that I don't think you're going to lose your friend over this. Okay?"

Despite how her mum's words had barely made a dent in all of the anxieties inside of her, Zelda could still feel the corners of her mouth twitch upwards, almost forming a smile. "Okay, I will."

"That's good to hear—wait," Impa cut herself off, and Zelda heard her voice getting fainter, presumably as her mum moved the phone away from her ear, "Tetra, Sweetie, don't—no, don't push that—" her mum's voice got louder as Impa turned back to their conversation once again, "I'm sorry, Zelda, but Tetra just knocked over the flour, I have to go help her."

"It's fine."

"Good. Love you."

"Love you," Zelda repeated, the phone already beeping in her hand. She looked down at the device for a moment before she placed it back down on her bedside table again, trying to not wonder about the reasons why her mum had felt the need to assure her of the fact that her parents loved her right in that moment.


	16. Chapter 16

The area in the tiny equipment room next to the stage that had been made into a temporary changing room was a mess, even more than their surroundings had been when they had been practicing in the drama room.

Dodging Kafei who was struggling to get into his costume, arms flailing around wildly as he fought to get free from the shirt he had gotten his head stuck in, Zelda made her way over towards the corner of the room where it seemed that Thelma had decided to set up a makeup station, a cardboard box filled with all kinds of makeup—both some that Zelda had seen before, though there was also a couple of products she had never heard mentioned before.

As Zelda walked over, Ravio looked up from the little mirror he was holding up in front of his face, spotting Zelda. Without a word, Ravio moved a few centimetres to the side, creating a bit of space for Zelda who sent him a thankful smile as she sat down on the floor as well, joining the others in their silence as she began to apply the makeup.

However, she didn't get to rest like that for very long before she heard the sound of Midna coming over to sit next to her, looking at Zelda for a couple of moments before she spoke up.

Making sure to first make eye contact with her so that she would not end up startling her, Midna pointed towards Zelda's face as she spoke. "Zelda, I think you need a bit more blush."

"What?" Zelda asked, inspecting her cheeks in the mirror, trying to ignore how the fact that she was flushing was already beginning to take care of the issue all on its own. "I thought that I had already put too much on."

"Yeah, if you were going to wear it normally, you would be right about that, but you always have to put way too much on when you're going to be on stage." Midna paused, letting Zelda dab on a bit more of the pink powder before she checked up on it again. "No, still too little. Remember that you are going to stand with a lot of light shining up at you, and that the audience is far away, so to give them a chance of seeing where your face is and what your expression is, you need so much blush that it feels like it's going to fall off if you move your head too much."

"Like this?" Zelda took the brush and pressed it against the apple of her cheek. Looking down at the mirror, she could tell the difference it had made.

"You're joking, but that's actually much better than before," Midna laughed, reaching out to pat Zelda on the back before she began doing her own makeup as well.

Split between relief that Midna had turned away before she could see how the unexpected gesture had surely made the tips of Zelda's ears turn red and the slight disappointment of Midna leaving, Zelda tried to take her mind of it altogether by attempting to apply roughly the same amount of makeup to both sides of her face, only stopping as she could feel that the attempt of evening out blush was threatening to ruin the rest of it.

Trying to get the most privacy she could possibly achieve get in the crowded room, Zelda took the hanger with her costume and snuck over to the opposite corner. She could see that she wasn't the only one, being surrounded by a couple of other students who also looked like they would have been happier if their costumes had also taken longer to bring up to date, but at least she could see that Midna had been right when she had told her that it would be simple getting on the dress, seeing that, despite how the back was decorated with almost twenty tiny buttons running down the back of the dress, there was actually a zip fastener hidden behind them, allowing her to quickly get into the costume.

Around her, Zelda could see that not everyone had been as lucky with their costume. Kafei, in particular looked like he was struggling with his shirt, the fabric constantly getting stuck as he tried to get it over his head. Zelda supposed that costumes like the one Kafei was wearing was part of the reason why Thelma had also brought cutting capes along to use to protect the clothes while applying makeup, seeing as Zelda doubted it would be a good idea to let Kafei do his makeup before getting his costume on.

But between Kafei continuously wiggling around to get the shirt on and the fact that Malon ended up taking pity on him and helped with getting the shirt over his head, Kafei ended up with just enough time to do his makeup as well before Thelma entered the room and looked around at the odd combination of students still wearing their own clothes standing between those wearing costumes that made them look like they had just stepped right out of a picture of another century.

Around her, Zelda could see that the same thing was the case for the little group that she, Midna, Anju, and Cremia had formed. Between the four of them, Zelda was the only one fully in costume, as Midna was still wearing her usual outfit of a patterned dress, and both Anju and Cremia wearing their skirts while the fabric of their blouses had turned out to have been torn at the hems during the six years they hadn't been used.

However the fact that about half the cast was still wearing their modern clothes did not seem to do anything to darken Thelma's mood as she clapped her hands. "Good, is everyone ready, or at least as ready as they can get right now?" when the people standing closest to her nodded an no one said anything else, Thelma turned around and began to lead them all over to the scene.

The stage had been built in the school gym, located a good distance away from most of the busier classrooms. Zelda was not sure why she hadn't thought of that before, after all, the school musical had always been presented in the gym, or at least it had been for as long as she could remember.

Built to be able to support their weight a couple of times, but not to be impossible to move again, the wooden boards of the stage and the area beneath them muted the sounds of her footsteps as Zelda stepped up onto the stage, ready to get into positions so that they could get ready to run through the first act.

Walking over to stand in front of the stage, Thelma began directing people around, making a couple of the students take a few steps to the side or forward to make sure that she could see everyone, but for the most part, people continued across the stage, getting ready to wait for their cue to go on by sitting down on the floor where they were hidden from view from the rest of the gym by the removable walls that had been placed on both sides of the scene.

"Yes, beautiful!" Thelma exclaimed when she was finally satisfied with everyone's starting position. Looking over at Zelda, she continued. "Ready to step onto your platform?"

She felt more like leaving the gym to instead go straight back to her own dorm, but as everyone looked over at her, Zelda forced her fear to stay back. "Yes."

Thelma gave her the thumbs up before she turned around to motion for Robbie to come over to join her closer to the stage. She repeated the gesture a couple of times before he spotted her and got up from his chair behind the control board to run across the gym, stopping right next to Thelma.

"Are we ready?" he asked, looking first at Thelma and then over at Zelda who was still standing on the stage rather than on the platform.

"Yes, I… I just needed a moment," Zelda said and turned around to face the thing that was supposed to keep her from falling down onto the stage.

The platform was slightly bigger than Zelda had expected it to be, just like the handrails were also a lot taller—almost reaching up to the middle of her upper arms. Even if they had not been that tall, Zelda couldn't help but wonder if the giant Loftwing that had somehow been fastened to the side of the platform that would be between herself and the audience wouldn't also be enough to keep her from falling over.

But even though the safety precautions helped her calm her fear a bit, they didn't keep her hands from shaking as she held up the hem of her dress to make sure that she was lifting her feet up enough to not hurt her shin by accidentally kicking the metallic platform seeing as it was not able to be lowered all the way onto the floor.

She did not get a lot of time to ponder just how safe the entire thing was, though, as Robbie climbed up onto the stage and strolled over to make sure the gate leading onto the platform was properly closed behind her.

"Don't worry," he said when he noticed her panicked expression, "it's perfectly safe, and when we get to the premiere, we won't have to do this, I just had to check one more time."

Zelda nodded even though Robbie's attempt to assure her that there was nothing to fear had not done much to calm her down.

Satisfied with the railing, Robbie jumped off the stage again and went back over to the control board. Zelda noticed him press a couple of the buttons, and the next moment a loud noise coming from where the four cables met the roof echoed through the room, and the platform was moving up through the air.

Abandoning all hopes of keeping her dignity intact, Zelda hurried over to one of the corners to hold onto the railing, clutching onto it so tightly that her knuckles turned white and her nails dug into the palm of her hands. She was still not entirely convinced that one of the cables would not get stuck, leading to the little protective enclosure she was standing on to tilt over and for her to fall back down onto the ground. But as the seconds passed and nothing happened except for her getting higher and higher up, the muscles in her arms slowly began to relax, her fingers loosening their grip around the bars of the railing. When the platform finally stopped its ascent, she was even able to sneak a glance at the view below her only to state that it had not been as bad as she has expected it to be. Granted, the she was only three metres—maybe three and a half at the most—up in the air, but Zelda still saw it as a success that she had at least not begun to cry.

Then the platform moved slightly below her, and she instantly took flight, running back towards the middle of the platform to get as far away from a fall as possible, sitting down and pulling her knees up to her chest as she tried to convince herself that the platform was fine and that she was not about to die.

"Whoa, Zelda are you okay up there?" Zelda heard Midna's voice coming from below her, but she didn't dare to look down at her.

Managing a shaky breath, Zelda nodded before realising that Midna could most likely not see her. "Yes, it just moved a bit to the side, I'm sorry I just panicked," she answered, still not mustering the courage to get back up. Her breathing was so erratic that Zelda was not sure it would be wise of her to begin to move around just yet.

"Wait, did you say that it moved?" this time it was Robbie who asked, and Zelda could hear him walk over towards the stage again. "It shouldn't do that; the cables should keep it perfectly still. Are you sure that it actually did move?"

Biting back an angry reply, because of course it had moved, she would not be sitting there in the air, hugging her knees if that had not been the case, Zelda tried to think rationally. It had felt like the platform had swung slightly to the side, but now that she tried to recall the feeling of it, Zelda was no longer sure.

"I'm not sure," she admitted, only remembering at the last second to speak loudly enough so they could hear her down on the ground.

"Me neither," Robbie replied, "listen, Zelda, we can get you down from there in an instant, so if you get scared, you don't have to stay up there, but I know that the platform is secure and that nothing can make you fall down."

As much as she wished to get back down onto the ground, Zelda did not want to cause the rehearsal session to get even more delayed. She had already taken up so much time already, if she wanted them to have a chance of making it through the entirety of the first act today, she had to get used to being on the platform, and she had to do that quickly.

Trying to fight the urge to latch onto the handrail, Zelda got back onto her feet and took a step over towards the side of the platform. It didn't move at all, so Zelda repeated the movement again, this time stomping her foot against the plastic layer that separated her from the metallic bottom of the platform. Still, nothing happened, and the knowledge that even if she were to jump up and down, she would still most likely be fine was enough to make her calm down somewhat. Though the thought of suddenly falling to the floor still frightened her, at least Zelda knew that it would not happen just because she moved around on the platform.

"Okay," Zelda called back down, "I'm sorry, I just think I was a bit nervous—it's fine now."

"That's all right," Thelma yelled back, "but you're feeling okay now?"

"Yes."

Zelda heard Thelma make some final adjustments to the positions of her classmates, and then the first song began, the sound of the orchestra filling the gym.

The first song progressed without any problems—or at least without any problems that were serious enough for Thelma to make them start over from the beginning—and as the harsh tones from Ghost Attack resonated in the almost empty room, Zelda dared to look down at the stage below her. Even though only half of the people dancing around on the stage were wearing their costumes, seeing the dance from up above was still a sight to behold, colours twirling around mixed with the more subdued colours of the modern clothes.

It didn't take long before Zelda heard the cry of Riju trying to warn the people around her that someone was coming, and the next moment, the cables began to lower the platform down to the stage.

She waited until the platform was perfectly still, torn between looking over at Midna who was sending her a small smile from her position directly next to the platform and focusing on not looking down at her feet as she stepped off. But perhaps she should have paid closer attention to where she was placing her foot, for she felt how the stage was not where she had expected it to be, having underestimated the distance between the platform itself and the stage, and in an attempt to both lean back and grip the railing next to the Loftwing and take a step forward to regain her balance, Zelda ended up not fully doing either. Instead, she stumbled forward, only stopping as Midna reached out to take her hand while positioning herself in front of Zelda to catch her.

Turning around to look over at Thelma, Zelda could already tell that she was turning red, Midna holding onto her hand for a moment longer than it had been strictly necessary to catch Zelda in her fall.

"Sorry," Zelda said, unable to look Thelma in the eye. It was the second time already in only a few minutes that she had slowed down everything.

Thelma waved her hand at her. "No, it actually worked… well, it worked a bit, maybe not the falling part, but Midna," at the mention of her name, Midna turned around as well to look over at Thelma, "if you could extend your hand to help Hylia get off her Loftwing, I think that would be a good idea. And, Zelda, just remember that the platform can't get all the way down onto the stage, so the distance you have to prepare yourself to step down is a bit bigger than you think it is."

"I will."

"Great. Okay, let's start over—just from where Hylia was about to step down from the platform and begin to sing Ballad of the Goddess."

The second time around, Zelda was prepared for the feeling of falling and managed to stay upright as she accepted the hand the Hero extended to help her, the song soon beginning. Zelda tried to not think about the feeling in her stomach as Midna began to sing as well, the duet between them coming to an end without any interruptions. Trying to remember all of her lines while not looking like she was recalling the manuscript in her head, Zelda found, helped take her mind of the fact that Midna was beaming at her as they finished the duet and exited the stage together, almost running into Link by the stairs leading down from the stage, with him barely having time to take a step back to allow them to get off the stage and him to get up there in time for the next scene.

"You did great," Midna whispered to Zelda, keeping her voice so quiet that had it not been for how close they were standing to each other, Zelda would not have been able to hear her.

Despite the knot in her stomach, Zelda couldn't keep a smile off her face, the fact that Midna had not let go off her hand only making it wider.

"That went well," Thelma said, glancing down at her notes for a moment before she looked back up at the students sitting down on the stage, looking over at her, "that went very well," she repeated, "now, there were a few issues—not too serious, nothing we don't have time to fix—but we do have to focus on them for a bit, so just try to remember that this first act was actually quite good. But now, to start on the negatives: the dance during Ghost Attack, you need to have more space between you, the movements are bigger than you might think, so try to remember to spread out over the stage before that song begins." she waited, letting them nod along to her words. "Also, I think that a couple of you might want to go over your lines a bit more, because there was a few awkward moments where it got a bit too obvious that you were trying to remember what to say, so try to work on that. To add to that, during the transition between scene two and scene three, the Hero and Hylia are supposed to leave the stage before Demise and the demons go on so try to remember that so that we can get that transition over with in time. Lastly—and this one is on Robbie and me," Thelma looked over at Robbie who had moved his chair over to sit next to her, "there were a few mistakes in the lightning, mostly during the part where Hylia descended, so we'll try to fix that before Friday."

Trying to take her mind off the fact that she and Midna were sitting so close to each other that their arms were touching, Zelda pricked up her ears as Thelma, Kass and Robbie began to whisper with each other, trying to catch some of the conversation. She was not the only one, Zelda was sure of that, as the room was unusually quiet at least considering the amount of students present. But despite that, she could still not hear what Thelma, Kass, and Robbie was discussing, so after a moment, Zelda gave up, and decided to instead focus in continuing to breathe as Midna tilted over towards her to rest her head against Zelda's shoulder.

A couple of minutes passed before Thelma directed her attention towards them again, sending them a smile. "You did well, you can begin to get back into your old clothes—we are just going to end this rehearsal session a few minutes before time."

She didn't have to say that twice.

The usual chatter associated with having many teenagers together in a limited space returned as the actors got up from the stage, beginning to make their way over towards the changing room while the members of the orchestra began to pack up as well.

Reaching out to help Zelda get up from her sitting position, Midna was already contributing her fair share to the noise as she raised her voice to ensure that Zelda could hear her. "That went great, don't you think?" she exclaimed, practically shinning and with such excitement on her face that Zelda couldn't help but wonder if it was possible for another person to light up a room with their mere presence.

"Yeah, it went okay, I guess," Zelda said, hearing how her voice sounded much flatter than Midna's, "I just wish that I had been a bit calmer about the entire platform-thing—it was a bit embarrassing to just panic in front of everyone."

They began making their way over to the stairs, weaving around a little group of first-years that had stopped in front of them, seemingly so engrossed in their passionate conversation that they didn't see how everyone else had to walk around them.

"Hey," Midna tightened her grip around Zelda's hand, giving her a comforting squeeze, "I'm sure that no one thought you were panicking over nothing—that platform went up really high."

"Not that high," Zelda argued, unsure about what she was trying to prove.

"No, but it was still higher than I think we had expected it to."

"Well, what had you expected?"

Midna shrugged, "I don't know exactly, but I saw a recording of the last time we put on this musical, and they didn't have a platform at all—Hylia just walked onto the stage—so the fact that you would actually get lifted up into the air at all was a bit of a surprise to me, I would told you about it before the audition if I had known about it."

There was a slight almost apologetic tone in her voice, and Zelda shook her head at Midna. "No, it's not that bad, really. I just needed a couple of seconds to get used to the feeling. Actually," she elbowed Midna in the side, trying to keep up the cheery attitude, "I'm glad that you didn't tell me about it—the idea of the platform sounded a lot worse than it actually turned out to be."

Retaliating by gently shoving Zelda, Midna laughed, this time sounding more sincere. "Well, then you are the complete opposite of me, I thought that you would just have to get maybe one metre up into the air and not several metres up. Are you sure that it's really fine?"

"Yeah," Zelda said, almost a bit surprised by how she didn't need to lie to come with that answer, "I'm sure."

"Zelda," Midna said, the mention of her name making Zelda look up from her own essay to find that Midna had slowly moved her own chair closer to hers. To start with, Zelda's desk had already barely been wide enough for both of them to sit there at the same time with their computers in front of them, but somehow, Midna had found a way to move even closer. Zelda didn't know what to think of it, on one hand she loved it, knowing that someday she would have to tell Midna what was going on inside of her and risk those moments coming to an end, but the lack of space between them also made it hard for her to think straight, all too aware of how close they were sitting. But she tried to remain focused, sending Midna a small nod to show that she was paying attention as Midna continued, "what did you answer about the question about the Triforce?"

"Uh, which one?" Zelda asked, already searching through her files for the worksheet.

"The one where they ask you which part of the Triforce you think you would have the strongest connection to and why."

Ah. That one.

Zelda didn't have to look down at her computer to know that she had not answered it.

Once, she would have picked wisdom without hesitation, simply stating that she got good grades when asked for a reason. But now, after everything that had happened, Zelda could feel a pull towards courage, not because she considered herself particularly brave, but because that was what she so desperately wished to have more of. More courage to stand up on the stage in front of an audience filed with people she did not necessarily know. Courage to tell Midna how she was feeling.

But Zelda was not the definition of courageous, so she kept her thoughts to herself and tried to answer with the same amount of conviction that she would have had in the past. "Wisdom, and I just wrote that I get good grades and generally like learning about new things. You?"

"Yeah, see, that's the thing," Midna said, scrolling down to get to the end of the worksheet, "I'm not really sure about which one applies to me. I mean, power? No." she held up three fingers, folding one down as she counted the three virtues represented by the idea of the Triforce. "Wisdom? No, I never listen in class and I barely pass the tests."

"That's not true, you do well when you really try," Zelda cut in, "don't you remember that you got top marks for that math assignment?"

"Yes, but you helped me with that one, and I think that you have to enjoy going to class to pick wisdom."

"No, you don't, you just have to pick the piece of the Triforce you feel the strongest connection to, that's what the question asked of you."

"And here we see the reason why you picked wisdom," Midna joked, leaning forward to get closer to the screen, "but no matter what, I just don't feel that kind of connection to wisdom. That leaves courage, I guess. I'm just not really sure if that actually applies to me, but process of elimination, right?"

"Well, yes, but just for the record, I think you're pretty brave."

Midna turned around and tilted her head to the side, her hair falling in front of her shoulders. "Really? How so?"

The question took Zelda by surprise. "Uh, well, there's—" she began, trying to recall a memory of a moment before she had gone to sit in her room to do her homework with Midna. The smell of Midna's perfume—it had to be something new, it had to, just like her lipstick looked brand new—was really quite distracting, and Zelda found that she could not really remember an example.

"No, that was a joke, you don't have to come up with something," Midna said, cutting in.

As Midna pushed against the floor with her foot to turn back towards the screen of her computer, Zelda's brain finally began to work properly again.

"You tried out for the musical," she said, trying to not pay attention to how Midna looked over at her, her lips already curling up into a tiny smile, "I think that's pretty brave—especially that you've done it since your first year."

"Well, then that could apply to you as well, you also went to the audition after all."

"I don't think that counts—I was scared out of my mind through the entire think," Zelda said with a chuckle.

But her response just made Midna shrug. "So? You still did it and you went back for the acting audition even though you knew you would be scared."

"Well, I had you there; you were with me through the entire thing."

"I was." Midna's eyes grew softer. "It was actually quite the lucky coincidence that we then got the same roles later on—that way, we could just continue on like that for the rehearsal sessions as well."

"Yeah, but not exactly the same way, though," Zelda said, laughing to cover up the way the butterflies had returned to her stomach, "which is probably a good thing, I don't think Thelma would have liked it if the average rehearsal session included as many jokes as there was when it was just the two of us rehearsing together for the auditions."

"No, she probably wouldn't. Midna agreed, before she went back to work on her homework, the sound the keys clicking as she wrote something as an answer to the question in the worksheet taking the place of her voice.

"I decided to write courage," Midna told Zelda a few seconds later as she stopped writing, "I really liked your arguments so consider me convinced."

"I will."

"Now, let's just see if Mrs. Marie is going to agree with me—just you wait, maybe she actually thinks that I'm an amazing student and thought that I would pick wisdom," Midna said, silently chuckling along to her own comment as she continued typing something, the font too small for Zelda to be able to read exactly what Midna had written as her reasoning for picking courage.

She tried to join in on the laughter, but Zelda could not let go of the wish to also be able to pick courage for herself one day.


	17. Chapter 17

The doors leading into the gym were locked, meaning that the hallway outside was full of students who, after having just gotten done with their classes for the day, were more than ready to go in and put on their costumes.

As Zelda made her way through the crowd, careful to not accidentally step on anyone who was sitting on the floor, she heard more than one excited exclamation that the rest of the costumes had been finished, meaning that everyone could get to be in full costume as they went through act two.

She sat down on the ground next to where Midna, Anju, and Cremia had already given up on standing up, placing her backpack in front of her, and leaning up against the brick wall behind her as Midna greeted her with a small wave.

"Did they have the book at the library?" Midna asked, motioning towards Zelda's backpack.

She opened up the bag and pulled the newest edition of their history book out, holding it up to show Midna the emerald green cover. "Yup. And I see that I wasn't even late for rehearsal."

"You definitely weren't late," Cremia agreed, "we were actually just wondering where Thelma, Kass and Robbie were, so if none of them show up during the next ten minutes, I'm going out to look for them."

"No, we're going to go to the principal's office to ask if he knows where they are—we won't be able to find them by walking around in the halls, the chances of finding them that way are practically non-existent," Anju said, correcting the plan.

Cremia just nodded in response, moving over to sit closer to Anju.

"Yeah, we were in a hurry to get here in time so Cremia didn't have time for her usual cup of coffee," Anju said when she noticed the puzzled look Zelda was sending in Cremia's direction, "so she is a bit tired now."

"Oh, that explains it."

"Speaking of being tired," Midna said, cutting in, "Zelda, I hope you're wide awake today, because it's time for my—well, technically, it's the Hero's, but who cares—death scene."

Had Zelda not already been awake, then that sentence would have been sure to get the job done.

The death scene. She had not forgotten about it, but she had certainly done her best to push the fact that she would of course have to cradle Midna once more while singing both a duet with her and then a song all on her own to show how the Hero's death had affected Hylia towards the back of her mind. Zelda supposed that the Composer Brothers, the duo consisting of two brothers, Flat and Sharp, who had originally written the musical, would have been proud to hear that their songs were able to affect her so much even though she was constantly reminding herself that it was just pretend and that nobody was dying, but at the prospect of soon having to repeat the process of walking in to see the Hero dying, Zelda found it hard to search for the bright side of the situation, not when everything in her was telling her that she could not stand having to watch Midna acting out the Hero's death once again, at least not if Zelda didn't want to end up crying herself as well.

But she had already successfully—or at least somewhat successfully—gotten through the scene, so she would just have to repeat that feat again.

Plastering a smile on her face, Zelda looked over at Midna. "Well, I'm not tired at all so that shouldn't be a problem."

"Great!" Midna grinned at her. "Then we'll just have to wait for Thelma to show up."

They leant back, going silent. Around them, Zelda felt like the other student's chatter grew in volume, soon forming a wall around her of noise and laughter. When she tried to remain focused on separating the actual sound from the chaos inside of her, Zelda was aware of the fact that that was not the case. The amount of sound had stayed the same and that it was most likely the fact that she was no longer absorbed in her own conversation that made her direct so much more of her attention to the conversations around her, but the knowledge of the reasons for why she could feel her breathing get a little bit shallower did not do much for her.

When Thelma finally showed up, apologising over and over again for the fact that her last class had dragged on, ending up going almost fifteen minutes over time, Zelda was quick to get back up, throwing her backpack over her shoulder before she followed Thelma through the doors and into the gym.

She heard the others struggle to catch up to her, having not expected her to get up as quickly as she had done, but she simply could not find it in her to slow down to wait for them as she made her way over to the changing room. At least she was the first one there, so—placing her backpack down onto the floor—Zelda went over to one of the corners to make sure no one else would claim it before her.

However, even though she had hurried to get there first, Zelda didn't get much more than a couple of seconds of peace before the rest of the students poured into the room as well, filling the space with their conversations.

"Zelda."

Feeling someone reach out to place their hand on her shoulder, Zelda spun around, already about to take a step back, only to find that it was Midna.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry for bringing up that scene, I should have realised—"

Zelda sighed. "No, I was just a bit stressed out, it's not your fault that I reacted like that."

"You're nervous?"

"I am."

Stepping closer, Midna pulled her in for a hug, and although Zelda knew that she would soon have to grow used to Midna no longer showing her that kind of affection, she found herself clinging to Midna, wrapping her arms around her to anchor herself in the present.

"Remember that you have practiced all of this before and if anything goes wrong, I'll be right here next to you, ready to make an even bigger fool of myself to make them all pay attention to me rather than you," Midna whispered, moving her hand in circles on Zelda's back as she spoke.

For once, Zelda didn't worry about whether or not she was blushing as she leant in closer towards Midna, pressing her face against her shoulder.

"Really?" she asked.

"Really."

Luckily, Zelda ended up not needing to rely on Midna promise, as she got through the second act without any issues, save for when she had to get back up on the platform and had to hold onto the railing to jump up. But as she managed to disguise that by grabbing the part that was hidden from sight behind the Loftwing, Zelda was able to not think too much about it.

So when she, Midna, Anju, and Cremia left the gym together, Zelda participated in the conversation the same way she would have done back before the musical. It was nice being able to act the same way she had done back before she had gotten so aware of every single one of her actions, and her smile was real as she walked alongside her friends down the corridor, heading towards the entrance hall.

"That went well," Cremia stated, reaching up to run a hand through her hair to make sure it looked neat even after all of the dancing, "didn't it?"

Anju nodded, doing a little jump as she walked along, her and Cremia having their arms linked together. "Sure, at least I wasn't about to bump into anyone during the dance in the finale."

"We're still not totally off-book, though," Zelda noted.

"Correction: a few people forgot their lines, but for the most part, people had it all memorised," Cremia said, reaching out to catch Anju as the other girl had overestimated the height she could get during her jump, leading to her almost hitting Cremia.

"Sorry!" Anju said, unable to keep the traces of a laugh out of her voice as she looked past Cremia over at Zelda. "Yeah, I have to agree with Cremia on that one—we were off-book, we knew all of our lines."

"But Thelma said that it might be a good idea to go over our lines again before Saturday."

Letting go of Anju's hand, Cremia picked up her pace until she was walking a few steps ahead of the rest of the group, turning around to look back at them. "She said that it would be a good idea for _some_ of us to take another look at our lines before the next time we would rehearse—and, yes, Anju, I do know where I'm going, I won't walk into anything."

Zelda could see how Anju had been about to open her mouth, extending her hands towards Cremia in an attempt to stop her, but at Cremia's assurance that she knew what she was doing, Anju visible relaxed, letting her arms hang down at her side again.

The fact that Cremia was able to convince her girlfriend that what was objectively not that good of an idea was fine did not, however, mean that it was as easy for her to convince Zelda.

"But we have to rehearse," Zelda argued, "she just said that some people would have to practice a bit more in an attempt to not single anyone out!"

Cremia shot her a long glance, and Zelda could see how she was trying to decide how she would respond, whether or not she would give in.

The, Midna cut in, instantly getting both Cremia and Anju's attention. "Look, it has never killed anyone to go over their lines a few more times than it was strictly necessary, so why don't we just go to Zelda and yours room," she gestured towards Anju, "get some snacks and sit down with the manuscripts again?"

Cremia looked at Midna before she chuckled. "Sure, if there are snacks, I'm not going to say no. what about you, Anju?"

Zelda was not sure what to make of the way that Anju was looking at her, eyebrows drawn together, as she slowly nodded at Cremia. "I'm coming with you as well."

"Good, then it's settled," Midna said, clapping her hands together as they turned around the corner and into the hall that would lead over to the dorms.

As they made their way over to her room, Zelda noticed how Midna began walking a bit slower, letting Anju and Cremia walk a few metres in front of them, Cremia having finally turned around again to look where she was going, while Zelda and Midna followed a bit behind them.

"You really wanted to read through the lines again, didn't you?" Midna whispered, taking a step closer to Zelda so that she wouldn't need to raise her voice.

"A bit," Zelda answered, "I know that I did well, but at least this way I won't berate myself afterwards if I make a mistake tomorrow."

She had halfway expected Midna to react with surprise. After all, Midna had always been the one of them to loudly declare that she would just finish her homework during the class it was due and then she could deal with the consequences later.

But rather than asking for any more clarification, Midna just nodded at her, giving her a gentle smile. "Okay, I get that. But you didn't want to admit it?"

"No."

"Well… I'm glad I could guess that that was what was up then."

"Me to," Zelda said, copying Midna's movement from earlier by taking a small step to the side, bringing her closer to Midna.

There was barely enough room in the dorm Midna and Marin shared for all of them to be there.

With Anju and Cremia sitting on the floor in between the two beds, Marin sitting on top of her duvet, having pulled one leg up to her chest, and Zelda sitting right next to Midna on Midna's bed while trying to not move around too much and end up crumpling some of the papers that Midna had thrown onto her bed, not to mention the jumble of books, worksheets, and pencils that was still present in the room, Zelda was almost completely sure that, had it not been for the fact that she had already spent so much time in there that she had somehow become less sensitive to the special Midna-brand of making a mess, she would not have been able to relax.

Of course, even now, she was not really able to fully calm down, though she knew that that had nothing to do with the papers lying right next to her on the bed and more with the fact that Midna was sitting right next to her, the limited amount of space not already claimed by old schoolwork forcing them to sit so close to each other that Zelda was keeping one side perfectly still as each movement meant brushing against Midna's arm.

She wasn't sure why she was acting that way. Back before the musical, her talk with Anju, everything, Zelda didn't mind physical contact and even now, she could feel how she was split between wanting to relish the precious moments she had left with Midna to the fullest and desperately trying to will the paper that surrounded her to move so that she could get some space around her in an attempt to begin the process of getting used to the distance between them.

From the way that everyone else were acting, Zelda was sure that she was the only one having that problem, Marin having an entire bed to herself, and Anju already leaning her head against Cremia's shoulder as she looked up at her girlfriend, listening intensely as Cremia regaled Marin with the story of how she had fallen off the stage when she had been in the middle of a solo in the musical during her first year.

"So then," Cremia said, careful not to disrupt Anju's position as she gestured with her hands to emphasise her words, "I stepped to the side, thinking that there was still at least half a metre between me and the edge of the stage, when I felt myself fall to the side, knocking over Link in the process."

Marin laughed. "Was it at least during rehearsal?"

"Of course, weren't you there?"

"No, I didn't really believe enough in myself to try out for the orchestra until my second year. But how did Link take it, he didn't get hurt, did he?"

Cremia waved a hand at her. "No, no, not at all. We both fell over, but that was it, and Thelma got over in an instant to help us get back up again. The only thing that really got hurt during the fall was my dignity and, I mean, is that really that big of a problem to begin with? What about you, Marin, do you have any tales to tell about the dangers of being a part of the orchestra?"

"Well, I'm almost constantly at risk of one of the cellists hitting me with the neck of their instruments."

"I've tried that as well," Zelda said, feeling how Midna turned away from Cremia to instead look over at her.

"Really? Who was it?" Marin asked, immediately interrupting herself to answer the question. "It was Makar, wasn't it?"

"Makar?"

"First-year, his hair is dyed green," Marin elaborated.

That sounded enough like the boy who had been about to hit her with his cello for Zelda to be certain that there was not a second person that description could apply to. "Oh, yeah, then it was probably him," she said.

"Yeah, he has a habit of underestimating the amount of space he needs to be able to turn around like that," Marin said with a little sigh, "he tries his best but I don't think he ever really got used to the fact that he takes up more space when he's carrying his instrument than when he doesn't."

"What about you?" Midna said, leaning forward to blink at Marin. "How is it going for you right now?"

Marin giggled. "You're referring to—"

"Oh, you bet I'm referring to that song!"

Zelda looked back and forth between Marin and Midna, trying to figure out if there was something she had missed. At least Anju and Cremia did the same, their confusion making Zelda feel a bit less self-conscious about how she had no idea about what joke she had just failed to understand.

"For your information," Marin said, a proud expression passing over her face, "I've actually gotten better—didn't you hear that during rehearsal this morning?"

"No, are you sure you're not trying to fool me?"

Shaking her head at Midna, Marin jumped off her bed, standing up instead. "For your information, I did come in at the right moment today during Ballad of the Goddess! Zelda," Marin turned to face Zelda, who tried to hide the way that Marin suddenly directing her attention towards her had made her twitch a bit, "you ought to have heard it, can't you back me up here?"

"I'm sorry, I'm not really sure what we're talking about…" Zelda said, all too aware of the fact that even she could almost not hear what she was saying.

However, Marin didn't seem to have the same problem, and she just went over to sit down next to Zelda, ignoring the way she had to have crumpled some of the papers by doing so—though, to be fair, Zelda supposed that they had already been wrinkled beforehand.

"Remember Ballad of the Goddess?"

"Of course she does," Midna cut in, leaning over towards Zelda to throw an arm around her shoulders, the warmth she emitted spreading through Zelda's entire body, "she has to have sung that song at least a couple of hundred times over the last couple of months."

"I think that's an exaggeration," Zelda said. She looked over at Midna, only to find that her friend was sitting much closer than she had expected her to, making Zelda turn her face away again so quickly that it could hardly be good for her neck.

At least Midna didn't seem to notice it, and she just patted Zelda's shoulder. "Well, you know what they say: exaggeration helps people to understand the point. But, anyway, Marin, you were talking about Ballad of the Goddess?"

"Yes, I was," Marin said, taking a second to make a face at Midna, "I used to constantly miss my cue. Didn't you notice that, Zelda? The harp usually came in a bit late?"

Trying to recall one of their first training sessions, Zelda thought about it.

In the beginning, Zelda could remember how scared she had been of messing up, focusing on her own performance so much that she had almost forgotten about when others would also have to sing a verse as well, leading to her almost continuing in over their parts, only managing to stop herself at the last second. If Marin had been a little late on her harp, Zelda knew that she would not have noticed it. To be honest, the first couple of rehearsal sessions, Zelda would probably not even have noticed it if Marin had forgotten about her harp entirely, not when Zelda had been so busy listening to the cellos, waiting for her own cues. But even though Zelda did her best to recall whether or not there had been something off about the harp during the last couple of days, she could not remember any issues.

"No, I don't think I have ever noticed anything."

"Really?" Marin shot her a surprised look. "Well, I suppose that just goes to show that I didn't do that bad then."

Next to her, Midna gave Zelda a discrete nudge with her elbow.

"See?" Midna whispered to her when Zelda looked over at her, keeping her voice low enough that the others would not hear it, Cremia having resumed telling about the injuries she had sustained over the years of being in the musical. "No one notices small mistakes as long as you just continue on as if nothing had happened."

It was supposed to cheer her up, and on some level, it really did. But despite that, it still felt a bit like Midna was telling her that Marin was much better at handling her own mistakes than Zelda was, something that was probably also the case, but that did not make the feeling of jealousy, that had had ample time to fester in her chest each time Midna would laugh with Marin, go away.

"I suppose so," Zelda said, still successful in keeping her voice the same, though her shoulders sinking down instantly gave the pretence away.

"Are you okay?"

She could hear the change in Midna's tone, no longer light but instead sounding slightly surprised.

"Yeah, yeah, it's fine," Zelda tried her best to keep her voice from shaking, mentally repeating over and over again that Midna had meant to make her feel better. Suddenly overly focused on the fact that both Anju, Cremia, and Marin had gone silent to look over at her, Zelda could hear how her voice began to grow shriller even when Zelda tried to avoid just that, "my throat just hurts a bit." she forced out a fake cough, one that was in no way enough to fool anyone.

But either Zelda had underestimated her own ability to fake a cough or else Anju was just happy to take the opportunity to do something about the suddenly tense atmosphere between them.

No matter the reason, fact was that Anju got to her feet, Cremia copying her movements as well.

"Do you need a cup of tea?" Anju asked. "I've heard that tea and honey can help on a sore throat."

"Does it really?" Cremia asked, making Anju turn around to look at her. "Isn't that just something that people say?"

"I've also heard that it can help," Marin offered.

"Yeah, but has that been proven or is it just the placebo-effect?"

"If it's only placebo, then we should just have made the tea anyway and not have told her about it."

Marin, Anju, and Cremia continued their discussion of whether or not tea really would help for a while, only stopping as Midna cut in.

"I say we all go and hope that it works—I mean, I don't think it will do any harm, so why not?"

When no one protested that, Midna got up from the bed, holding out her hand for Zelda to take.

Zelda looked up at Midna, trying to silence the feelings of jealousy that she knew was both irrational and misdirected. A couple of seconds passed, just enough so that the moment Zelda reached out to accept the help was the exact same second Anju and Cremia began to look at Zelda, slightly worried expressions on their face, something that did however go away as Zelda took Midna's hand and pulled herself up as well, following along behind the others as they left the room to head down towards the dining room.

Monday, rehearsal felt a bit more stressful, something Zelda supposed was due to the fact that there was only a week left until everything had to be perfect.

Though she could see that Thelma did her best to keep up the appearance of her having everything under control, it was obvious that Thelma was nervous as well, her hands shaking, and her voice not seeming as light as it usually was as she stood in front of the stage, giving the last couple of messages before they would begin the rehearsal.

"Today, we will go over act one again, and Wednesday will be spent perfecting act two, which leaves us with Friday where we will go over act one one last time before we will spend Saturday running through the entire musical." Thelma said, eyes moving down the schedule she was holding. "Kass and I have decided to split it up that way because act one had the biggest issues, both in regards to the acting as well as the music, so don't worry, we have made sure that we will have enough time to sort out everything before Monday." Thelma added the last part after having stopped to double-check that she had remember everything, and to Zelda, it sounded more like she was saying it to make herself calm down with her words rather than the students, or at least Zelda didn't find it all that effective if the intent had been to make her relax about it all, as seeing Thelma lose her calm demeanour only made her own heart beat a little faster, her hands grow a bit more clammy, as Zelda tried to fight the instinct to panic about whether or not they would be done in time.

In front of her, Thelma lowered the schedule, making eye contact with some of the people sitting closest to her. Zelda was grateful she was not among them—she wasn't sure she would be able to hide the fact that she was shaking, unable to stay still as the thoughts of what would happen if she wasn't ready next Monday repeated over and over in her head.

"We don't have a lot of time, so let's get started as quickly as possible," Thelma finished, the last couple of words barely audible over the sound of them all getting up and moving over towards the changing room to get into their costumes.

As she followed along, trying to focus on nothing except for where she was walking, Zelda felt someone grab her hand and turned around to see Midna smiling at her.

"Ready to attempt to add enough blush in your first attempt?" Midna said, winking at her.

Thankful for the distraction, Zelda smiled back at Midna. "Yeah, I'm thinking that I should probably just give up and begin applying it all at once and then just see how much will stick to my face."

"Yeah, that might actually not be that bad of an idea," Midna said, leaning closer while pretending to consider the option, "although you look like you won't need as much today."

The realisation that Midna had to have noticed the way her cheeks were already turning red set in, and Zelda rushed to come up with an explanation that would not entail actually telling the full truth.

"It is also a bit chilly," Zelda said, accompanying her words with a little chuckle, hoping that it would be enough to convince Midna, "so that would make sense."

"Hmm." Midna sent her a quizzical look, and, for a moment, Zelda thought that Midna had figured out the truth. But then Midna let go of her hand to instead pat her shoulder. "Well, then we should probably hurry up to get into costume—the light ought to be enough to make you feel warmer."

Midna broke into a run towards the changing room, pulling Zelda along after her.

She wasn't sure if the feeling of her heart dropping in her chest had been brought on by relief or sadness.

Although the session went relatively well, the feeling of running out of time didn't leave Zelda, and she returned to her room that evening with a feeling that she could sleep for a year and still feel tired and worn-out.

Throwing herself onto her bed, Zelda found herself staring up into the ceiling.

In less than a week, she would have to go back up on the stage again and somehow manage to make it through the entire musical, not only one act anymore, making sure that everything fit together, both the songs, the acting, and the lines—everything had to be perfect in a week.

No. Zelda forced her eyes shut as she sat back up, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. She knew where this was going, she knew she was about to spend the next long time lying on her bed while she despaired over the thought of the musical, achieving nothing except for making herself even more anxious.

Looking around her room for a way to divert her thoughts and allow her to not freeze up completely, Zelda ended up staring at her phone that she had placed on her desk.

It didn't take her more than a couple of seconds before she had picked it up and dialled her mum's number, pressing it against her ear as she waited for Impa to pick it.

"Zelda?" her mum asked when she answered the call. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing…" the words got caught in her throat as Zelda struggled to get the lie over her lips. Before long, she found herself crying, barely making it over to her desk chair as she felt the last bit of strength leave her. "Mum, I'm really nervous," Zelda confessed.

"About the musical?"

She nodded before she remembered that her mum was not there. "Yes," Zelda added, leaning in over the desk, resting her head in the palm of her hand, "I'm scared and it's only a week away now."

"Okay, look, Zelda, you're breathing way too quickly right now." Zelda realised that her mum was right. She hadn't realised until then that she was beginning to breathe faster and faster, the rhythm of her breathing no longer even but instead erratic. "So can you try to slow that down a bit?"

"I think." Zelda went quiet, trying to focus on nothing except for the amount of time between she would breathe in until she would exhale again. Slowly, she noticed that it slowed down, her breathing becoming more normal.

From the phone, Zelda could hear her mum letting out a breath as well. "Good. Now, Zelda, do you need me to come over to the school? I'm on my way to pick up Tetra from her friend's house, but I can be there in just a little over an hour if you want me to."

"No!" if her mum drove all the way over to the school, even if she only stayed for a few minutes, it would still take her another hour to drive back home, meaning that Zelda's mum would not be home again until at about ten o'clock, which was the last thing Zelda wanted to happen.

"No," Zelda repeated, this time a bit calmer, "No, it's fine, I just wanted to talk to you."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, it's fine to just talk with you over the phone."

"Okay, and you are sure that you don't want me to call anyone for you?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I was just a little panicked about the musical, but I think I have gotten it under control now."

Her mum went quiet for quite a while, almost enough to make Zelda start asking if she was still there. But the moment before she would have done that, Impa's voice returned again. "Zelda, you know… I loved musicals when I was your age, and I loved being in them—"

"Yes, I know that," Zelda cut in, hearing the annoyed tone in her voice. What did her mum think it would help her that she reminded her once more about how much fun Impa had had while being in the musical?

"No, Zelda, I wasn't finished. I meant that I might have liked musicals, but that doesn't mean that you will as well."

Already guessing what her mum was about to say, Zelda cut in. "No, I do like being a part of the musical. I… I'm just not good at handling the pressure of having to be on a stage in front of people, but when I am able to forget about all of that, I do love rehearsal, really."

"I'm happy that you can enjoy it," Impa said, and Zelda could hear how her mum was still not convinced, a sceptical tone still present in her words "but, the thing is that your father and I have read a bit about parents who try to live out their dreams through their children—"

"Whoa, mum, I was the one to choose to go to the audition for the musical." Zelda said, a bit shocked that her mum had begun to blame herself. When her mum stayed quiet, not responding to what Zelda had said, Zelda repeated herself again. "No, really, you would never have been able to make me go to that audition if I had not wanted to—you know that, you know how stubborn I can get, you used to complain about that so much!"

"You can be really stubborn," Impa agreed, and Zelda was relieved to hear the chuckle that followed along to her words, "but I just wanted to make sure that you knew that I am sorry if I made you feel like you _had_ to try out for the musical."

"I know that, but you didn't do anything like that." It was not even a lie. If Zelda had to pinpoint the biggest reason for her decision to try out for the musical, it would probably end up being the fact that it was her last chance to be a part of the school musical. "Besides, I'm really happy that I made it and got a part—for the most part I love being there, it's just the stress I'm not that good at dealing with."

"Zelda, can I ask you what exactly you are worrying about in regards to being on a stage?"

On one hand, Zelda was happy that Impa finally seemed to accept that she had not pressured Zelda into trying out for the musical, but the sudden tightness in her chest, evoked by the mention of the musical, made it difficult for her to focus on that.

"Well," Zelda said, dragging out her words to giver herself as much time as possible to carefully prepare the next sentence, "I don't know, I'm just scared that I'm going to panic when I'm up there and forget everything or miss a note or something."

"Hmm," her mum hummed along, waiting for Zelda to finish, "but, right now, how likely do you think that is to happen?"

"I don't know. I just know that if I start panicking, there is no way for me to make myself stop in time before I ruin it for everyone," Zelda said, having to take a deep breath to keep herself from proving her words by beginning to panic again.

"Are you okay there, Zelda?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want to hear my estimate of the risk of any of those things happening?"

Zelda was already sure of what her mum would tell her, but she saw no reason to not let her say what she had to tell. "Sure, just go ahead."

"Thank you. I don't think that you are going to make a mistake—" already hearing how Zelda was beginning to get ready to argue against her point, Impa hurried to add, "no, really. You have rehearsed for weeks. How many times have you made a major mistake over the last week?"

Apart from how she had struggled a bit with remembering a few of her lines in time, Zelda could not remember any concrete examples, so she readjusted the phone, moving it a bit closer to her face, as she answered. "One time."

"And what was the mistake?"

"I thought that I had forgotten my line, so I was a bit late."

"But did you remember your line or did Thelma have to tell you?"

"No, I remembered it in time."

"See? If you managed to recall what you had to say in time and no one except for yourself noticed that you had even forgotten in the first place, what do you think the risk of an audience where—and I'm guessing here, but I think that I'm right—the vast majority of the people present haven't worked with the musical for nearly two months picking up on it is?"

A smile grew on Zelda's face. This was something she could use, applying logic to her panic. "It's not that big."

"I would dare to say that it's doesn't exist at all. And even if you really do forget anything or mess up a note, aren't you always onstage with other people?"

"I am."

"That's good. Zelda, I won't try to tell you what to do, but I think that you should just try to focus on the people you do know and not the audience."

She made it sound so easy, like Zelda hadn't already tried to forget about the fact that other people would have to be present. But maybe it just was that easy for everyone except for her. Zelda didn't know, she thought that she was pretty good at appearing to be calm while at rehearsal, so even if the other students seemed like they didn't worry too much about Monday, how could she know they didn't also try to hide their nervousness just like she did? For all Zelda knew, almost everyone involved with the musical could be in their rooms like her, trying to make themselves feel better about their own performances and the prospect of having to be on a stage in front of people.

But then again, from what Zelda had seen, she was arguably one of the worst people at keeping her emotions in check, so she was most likely the only one who had had to call her mum to be able to not think about the show Monday—and even that, she had failed at.

"It's just not that easy," Zelda whispered into the phone.

She could hear Impa sigh. "I know, Sweetie, I know. Look, does Midna know how you're feeling about all of this?"

"Yes. And Anju and Cremia as well—I told them almost a month ago." she tried not to think about the fact that she had promised her friends to tell them when things would get difficult for her, only to stay quiet with almost everything, but it was too late—the guilt had already set in.

Her mum continued talking, the distance between them making her unable to know how Zelda was staring down at her table, blinking rapidly in an attempt to keep herself from bursting into tears. "Look, I'm sure that if you just tell Midna about this, she will know what to do."

"I already have."

"And?" her mum asked, clearly not satisfied with the short answer.

"She told me that if I made a mistake, she would gladly do something even worse so that people wouldn't remember mine."

Impa laughed.

Well, at least one of them was happy.

"I'm not sure if that would be the best thing to do in practice, but the sentiment is sweet, isn't it?" her mother asked, waiting for Zelda to answer. When Zelda remained quiet, her mum continued on her own. "Zelda, I know that you're going to do great, and if you aren't I'm sure that Midna will be able to come up with something on the spot—do you remember that summer, I think you had both just turned seven, when she came to visit you, and the two of you decided that you would try to play football?"

"And we ended up breaking a flowerpot?"

"Yes, exactly! But the point of the story was actually that Midna didn't have to think for a moment before coming up with a story about how the flowers had come alive and tried to pick on you, so she had kicked the ball over at them. She was able to salvage that situation, and I'm sure she will be able to help you if you really do make a mistake while you are onstage."

"But she didn't manage to convince you," Zelda argued, "you knew that we had just not payed attention to our surroundings, that's why you even remember that story at all."

"Maybe. But it was still sweet enough that I wasn't angry at all over the flowers. Do you get what I'm saying, Zelda?"

"I guess so."

"And are you feeling a bit better now?"

Zelda supposed that she did. At the very least, her mum had actually managed to make Zelda think about something other than the musical for the duration of the story about Midna. And even if that could mostly be attributed to the fact that the story had made little sense to Zelda, it was still a positive sign, or at least that was what Zelda tried to convince herself.

So, trying with all of her might to not let her thoughts drift back to the subject of the musical, Zelda looked back up again. "A bit. Thank you."

"No need to thank me, I'm just happy that you called. You know you can do that at any time, right?"

"Even in the middle of the night?" Zelda joked.

But there wasn't a trace of a humour in Impa's voice as she answered. "Of course you can call in the middle of the night if that's what you need to get through the day. I love you."

"I love you too," Zelda echoed, ending the call and placing the phone down beside her as she tried to make sense of her mum's words.

With Tetra still being in the phase of waking up in the middle of the night to go and wake up her parents to inform them that she had had a nightmare, Zelda had gotten used to waiting until she was absolutely sure that her parents were awake as well before she would call them—even during the weekends. Trying to ignore the voice telling her that her mum was seeing her as someone who couldn't get through the day without the same amount of attention as her much younger sister, Zelda went back over to sit down on her bed as she tried to process the fact that she now apparently had the opportunity to call her mum no matter the time of day.

Feeling the weight of the necklace she had gotten from Midna against her chest, Zelda looked down, and saw how the little harp-shaped pendant reflected the dim light coming from her bedside lamp.

Clutching the necklace and making sure that her phone was recharging, Zelda somehow managed to fall asleep, so tired that she did not have the energy to wait for Anju to return back to their dorm or for reaching up to remove her glasses.


	18. Chapter 18

Even though the musical coupled with her attempts—or rather the lack of an attempt—at putting her feelings for Midna into words meant that Zelda dedicated a good part of her spare time to either rehearsing in the gym or to lie in her bed, trying to remind herself to keep on breathing, her teachers did not stop assigning homework. Granted, Zelda could see how they were trying their best to be considerate of the fact that a not inconsiderable part of their class was spending a lot of their free time in the gym trying to piece everything together, but there was a plan for how the classes were supposed to go, a plan that the teachers had to follow.

So even though Zelda already felt like she was ready to go to sleep as she returned to her dorm that Tuesday, feeling drained even though she had only just finished her last class, she sat down in front of her computer and clicked onto the school's homepage to make sure that she hadn't missed any homework.

That was when she saw it.

It was nothing really, just a notice posted by the principal to remind everyone that they would have to buy the tickets for the musical in advance so that the school would have time to plan for how many extra people they would need to make space for. Zelda had already known that, seeing as she had seen first-hand how the numbers of chairs that had been set up in front of the stage in the gym had increased each day. It was nothing new.

But for some reason, it was enough for her to forget everything about the homework, close her computer, and lean back, trying to get control over her erratic breathing. She reached up to touch the necklace, trying to remind herself that everything was fine, nothing had changed in the last couple of seconds, she had tried to prepare herself for the moment she would have to go up on the stage and the fact that the notice had been posted had not changed anything about that, Midna would still be there.

Her fingers made contact with her bare skin, the warmth radiating from her body sending a shiver down her spine. The necklace was gone.

It was fine. Most likely, one of the small rings that made up the chain had broken off—this was, after all, a cheap trinket bought in a souvenir store—and if she only went back to check the places she had been during the day, Zelda would find it lying on the floor somewhere.

However, right then, Zelda barely had time to make it over to her bed before her legs gave out beneath her and she stared up into the ceiling, not even bothering to fight down the wave of panic.

It collapsed like a house of cards that could no longer support its own weight.

She had no idea why it had been something as small as the necklace that had made it all become too much—Zelda knew that it was small, she knew that it was nothing, she had just lost a necklace that she could most likely find again on her own by just spending ten minutes searching through the classrooms she had been in during the day—but fact was that she couldn't even try to begin to work through the issue.

Time passed. Zelda wasn't sure how much exactly—judging from the amount of light that was still coming in through the window, it couldn't be time for dinner yet—when she heard a knock on the door.

Zelda didn't answer, but the door opened regardless, and Midna stepped into the room, a spring in her step and a smile on her face, at least until she caught sight of Zelda.

"Zelda! Are you okay, has something happened?" Midna exclaimed, already having gone to kneel down on the floor next to Zelda, reaching out to take her hand.

She barely managed to from the words.

"I lost the necklace," Zelda choked.

Despite the amount of tears and how Zelda's shaky voice made her lose half of each word, Midna seemed to understand it, and she knitted her brows. "What necklace?"

"You gave it to me back at the museum."

"In Kakariko? When we went to see the exhibition there, the one about the legends—that necklace?"

Zelda nodded, not trusting herself to be able to form the words to confirm it.

"But, Zelda, it was just a cheap little thing, it didn't even cost five Rupees," Midna said, visibly trying to plaster a reassuring smile onto her face. It didn't look convincing.

"No, you don't understand, I can't do it without that necklace."

She began shaking, trying to tauten and relax her muscles by turns in an attempt to remind herself that she was fine, no one had gotten hurt, and she would get through this. It just seemed impossible to believe right in that moment.

"The musical?" Zelda didn't answer, but her silence was enough, as Midna continued. "Okay, do you know where you was the last time you had it?"

"No…" forcing herself to take a deep breath, a smidge of her mind was able to shake off the panic, letting her think through what had happened, "yes, I know that I had it this morning."

"So you lost it sometime during this day," Midna mumbled, and Zelda got the feeling that the words were meant more for Midna than for Zelda, "that means that it has to still be somewhere on the school." Midna looked over at her, having reached the same conclusion as Zelda. "Don't worry, we can find it again," Midna continued, giving Zelda's hand a comforting squeeze, "are you feeling like you can come with me to look for it?"

"No."

She felt bad about the situation she had created. Here Midna was, having automatically taken on the task of helping Zelda find the necklace again, and she couldn't even muster up the energy to come with her to search for the lost piece of jewellery.

But Midna just reached out to lightly pat her shoulder. "That's okay, I'll just find it then. Do you want me to call someone for you? Your mum?"

Zelda could easily imagine that if Impa were to hear about this from Midna, she would get into her car to immediately drive over to the school. And if there was one thing Zelda didn't want, it was for her mum to suddenly show up. It hard been difficult enough to convince Impa that she was fine when Zelda had called her yesterday, if she received a call from Midna just a day later about finding Zelda crying in her bed, Zelda was sure that there was no way for her to make her mum accept the fact that Zelda could handle the musical.

"No it's fine—I'll be fine." she added the last part more for herself than for Midna, and judging from the way Midna looked at her, a pitying look in her eyes, Zelda would never have managed to convince her that she was telling the truth. She wasn't even sure if she was fooling herself.

It would have been so much easier if Midna had just told her to get it together. Well, maybe not easier, but simpler. Then Zelda could maybe have gotten back up, burying her feelings once again, forcing them back down to allow her to pile on even more issues on top of everything so that she could manage to keep up the façade for just a little bit longer. She just needed another week, then the musical would be over—or at least Zelda would not have to worry about making a fool of herself in front of everyone—and she could focus on ignoring her feelings for Midna.

In a morbid way, Zelda supposed that was the bright side of all of the pressure coming from the musical. With all of the thoughts about how she had to be on a stage in front of the school, Zelda had barely had any energy left to wonder about what she should do about her feelings for Midna, feelings that had very much not disappeared despite how Zelda had tried her best to ignore them, but had at least seemed less intense as she had cried over the fear of messing up during the show.

"Are you sure?" Midna hesitated, slowly letting go of Zelda's hand.

Pushing herself up into a sitting position, Zelda waved at her, trying her best to force a smile that would be persuasive enough. "Yes, I'll be fine, I just needed a pause for a moment."

Midna went silent, staring directly into Zelda's eyes, searching for the truth. Zelda saw the moment Midna's gaze turned softer as she got back up and let go of Zelda's hand. "Okay. I'll be back in a moment—hopefully with the necklace—so just wait for me, please?"

"Of course."

Placing her hand on the door handle, Midna turned around again, looking over at Zelda with a small smile.

"And you are going to be okay?"

"Of course I am."

As Midna looked at her, still hesitating to leave the room, Zelda could feel how she was lying less and less each time she repeated that she would be fine.

"Okay then," Midna said with a sigh, opening the door, "I'll be back in a moment then."

She slowly closed the door behind her, and Zelda fell back onto her bed.

Even though she no longer felt like she couldn't do anything other than panic, she might as well have just run around the entire school twenty times with how little energy she had left.

Midna was gone for longer than Zelda had expected, with Midna only returning a few minutes before dinner to tell her that she had not been able to find the necklace.

Feeling guilty over the apologetic tone to Midna's words—why was Midna feeling like she was to blame for the fact that she had not found the necklace when Zelda had been the one to lose it in the first place? It wasn't right—Zelda tried her best to assure her that she would be fine with or without the necklace. But her words felt hollow. Despite how she had calmed down enough to make it down to the dining room to eat together with her friends, Zelda could still feel the effect of the lost necklace, her breathing still slightly uneven and all sounds slightly muffled, making her feel like she was underwater throughout the entire evening.

However, even if Zelda was feeling more like curling up in her bed and staying there for days, rehearsal continued on as planned, and that meant that Zelda found herself once again sitting in the corner of the changing room the following day, having pulled her legs up to her chest, all of them getting ready to go through the second act of the play. Around her, Zelda could hear the happy chatter of the other students, as they hurried to put on their costumes and do their makeup. But although she tried her best to participate in the conversation between herself, Midna, Anju, and Cremia, she couldn't stay focused for long, tuning in and out and only catching half of each sentence.

She went through the motions, zipping up her dress without really realising that she was moving, applying her makeup before pausing to state that she needed more blush and moving the brush back to the powder, not caring enough to do much more than that. Just beneath the emotionless surface, Zelda could feel the panic rising, so she didn't dare to break the fragile façade she had so carefully crafted, not even if it felt a bit like she was not properly present at the rehearsal as she stepped onto the stage, getting ready to rise up on her platform. She didn't even move to grab the handrail as she usually did when the platform began moving.

The numbness got her through the first couple of scenes. Zelda could hear that, although she did hit the notes, it sounded empty and without any emotions, an opinion she saw Thelma share with her, the teacher watching Zelda with furrowed brows as Zelda made it through Life in Ruins. Zelda knew that she could do better, or at least she could have tried more, hut she was so tired and it all felt so distant to her, like she was standing behind a glass wall that separated her from the rest of the students that she couldn't even imagine trying to let her emotions shine through in the songs.

Maybe Thelma could see that, could see that Zelda would not make any progress if she started the scene over, or maybe it was just the fact that they didn't have a lot of time that made her choose to accept the subpar performance. Zelda didn't know, but fact was that Thelma didn't interrupt the scene to ask them to start over, instead allowing the scene to progress, and Midna to step up onto the stage to act out the Hero's death.

Her footsteps sounded deafening as Zelda walked over to where Midna had collapsed next to the sword, picking up the Hero to cradle her best friend in her arms as the reprise of The Legendary Hero began.

Later on, Zelda would not be sure what had changed. Maybe it was the way that Midna's movements grew more and more sluggish throughout the song or the way that she too moved closer to Zelda, as the Hero tried to ask Hylia if they had succeeded, not having the strength to form the words before finally going limp in her arms, Midna rolling over to rest her head against Zelda's chest. It could be everything and nothing, but the next moment, Zelda could see her vision get blurry as tears began to form in the corners of her eyes, stinging slightly.

Feeling incredibly lost, Zelda wondered if she should try to blink away the tears, but no matter how hard she tried to do so, she just kept staring down at Midna as the last verse of the song began. She needed to do something, Zelda knew that if she first really began to cry then there was no way for her to stop again until she had ruined it all.

Midna stirred slightly, and Zelda followed the movement as Midna slowly reached out to take her hand, making sure that the gesture was hidden from sight from everyone in the audience.

Zelda wasn't sure if it was just her mind playing tricks on her—maybe wishful thinking—but she could have sworn that Midna moved her lips, silently forming the words 'continue, you've got it,' while she stayed almost completely still throughout the entire thing. Except for herself and Midna, Zelda doubted that anyone would have noticed it. It was such a small thing, she and Midna had held each other's hands to show that they were there for the other countless of times, really the effect of it should have been worn out long ago, but as she sat there, using her right arm to hold up Midna's head, Zelda could feel how it was still very much effective.

The last verse of the song began, and Zelda's voice grew stronger as she focused on Midna's presence, trying to ignore everything else.

She could hear the improvement instantly. The emotionless tone of her voice vanished at once as Zelda continued on to the reprise of Ballad of the Goddess. Suddenly, time seemed to pick up, continuing at a normal pace rather than each second dragging on for eternity, and before long, the light on the stage dimmed, letting Zelda and Midna know that it was time to leave as the rest of the cast got ready for the finale.

They waited until the song finished, standing just behind the wall separating them from the rest of the gym, Midna having her arms wrapped around Zelda as she pulled her in for a tight embrace, not letting go until the second act was over and Thelma told them all to gather up on the stage.

Sitting down on the left side of the crowd and dangling her legs over the edge of the scene, Zelda felt how Midna sat down next to her, warmth radiating from her as she placed an arm around Zelda's shoulders. Separated from them by a couple of first-year students, Anju and Cremia looked over at Zelda, raising their eyebrows at her to ask the same question of 'are you okay?'

Choosing to focus on the weight of Midna's arm around her rather than the lightness around her neck, Zelda nodded at them.

Thelma's speech was the same as it usually was, assuring them that they were indeed making progress and would have pieced it all together in time for Monday, coupled with the usual advice for what they could improve before she motioned for them to return to the changing room to change back into their normal clothes.

But as Zelda followed along with Midna, Anju, and Cremia as they went over towards the little room, Thelma called out her name, making Zelda turn around and head back over towards the teacher.

"Yes?" Zelda asked, trying to at least look like she wasn't waiting for the conversation to be over with.

"I was just wondering if you were feeling all right today."

"Uh," Zelda said, dragging out the sound. She had not expected Thelma to ask her that. If anything, she had expected a demand for an explanation as to why she had been so off during the entire session. Meeting Thelma's glance, Zelda came up with a reason, "I was just a bit tired and my head hurt a bit, nothing major."

"Your head hurt?" Thelma repeated, knitting her brows. "Are you sure you're drinking enough water?"

Zelda couldn't keep the faint smile off her face. If only all of this could be solved by drinking an extra cup of water. "Yes, I'm sure. I just think that I stayed up a bit too late yesterday—I had this math assignment that I really wanted to get finished, so I ended up spending a lot of time staring at my computer, I don't think that really did anything to help my eyes or my head." she stopped, hoping that she hadn't begun to ramble enough for Thelma to catch on to the lie.

Luck was with her, as Thelma didn't object to the reason. "Okay, maybe don't do that that much the next time then?"

"I won't."

"But regardless of that, I wanted to tell you that you did great during your last scene." Zelda had been about to run over to where Midna was waiting for her next to the changing room, but as Thelma continued talking she stood still, the smile on her face growing increasingly strained as Thelma added. "You didn't get off to a great start, but you really turned things around at the end, so just keep up the good work."

"Of course."

Finally, Thelma was finished, and Zelda went over to Midna, having to restrain herself from breaking into a sprint to get out of her costume as quickly as possible.

She had done well? That was nice to know, now Zelda just had to spend her Sunday crying in her room, a complete lack of energy making it so that she could hardly move if she wanted the performance Monday to be good.

Assuring Midna that everything was fine, Zelda made her way into the changing room, stomping her feet against the ground with perhaps a bit more force than strictly necessary, the sound echoing in the large room.

Thursday arrived much too soon, and as Zelda sat down in her seat at the first class of the day, she had a hard time imagining how she would be able to make it through the entire day, seeing as she was already now fully prepared to place her head down on her desk to get a chance to sleep, and that they still had another five lessons left until she could go back to her room for a nap.

But she had to maintain her grades, not as much because she was scared of getting kicked out of the musical—really, what could they do at this point? They were almost finished with rehearsals, with the show right on the other side of the weekend—but because that was who she was: Zelda, the student with the perfect grades, the one who could get top marks on every test, every assignment, and every exam without even trying.

As Zelda sat there at her desk, for once in her life struggling to stay awake and write down what her teacher was telling her, she was beginning to understand why Midna would have chosen to simply declare that she didn't care about her grades, automatically making sure that no one expected her to achieve much in school. What if Zelda had chosen to do the same? She wasn't sure when she had started getting the reputation of being an exceptionally bright student, wasn't even sure she had ever made the conscious choice to act that way, but what if she had been more aware if it when she had been younger, would she then have done something else?

Staring at her computer for a moment before pressing the backspace button, deleting the last word she had written, Zelda doubted that she would have. No matter the amount of pressure she sometimes felt that the teachers placed on her by expecting her to excel in everything, Zelda did prefer it to the alternative of having to pretend that she didn't like learning.

But none of that mattered now, she had had that role for so long that Zelda could not imagine not being the overachieving student anymore, not even to mention the change that a decision to not care about her schoolwork as much anymore would undoubtedly bring along, not only affecting her grades but her entire life as well.

She wasn't a fan of change. If Zelda were to be faced with the opportunity to freeze time to be able to live out the rest of her life here, just having to go to school, do her homework, and spend time with her friends, she would do it in a heartbeat, even if it meant that she would also have to deal with the increased amount of stress associated with the musical for the rest of eternity. At least that way, she would know what was awaiting her, not even to mention the fact, that if Monday never arrived, she would not have to worry about walking up on the stage to sing and act in front of an audience.

Anju elbowed her in the side, making Zelda realise that she had been spacing out. Again.

She tried to pay attention to what Mrs. Marie was saying, but the words blurred together, forming a solid wall of pure _tumult_ , that made Zelda unable to do much else than stare out of the window, idly wondering if perhaps time really had frozen around her.

"… split up into pairs of two and find a quiet place to sit and discuss these questions," Mrs. Marie said, pointing towards the sentences she had written on the blackboard. Zelda looked up, trying to force her eyes to focus on the lines, but all that her brain came up with was that she needed to ask her mum if she could get her eyes checked again, because there was no way that this was the right prescription, not with how hard it was for her to focus on the words on the blackboard.

"Zelda?" Zelda turned her head to the side to see Anju waving towards her, having already packed up her things so that she was ready to do as Mrs. Marie had told them to and find somewhere to sit. "Do you want to work together with me?"

She nodded, not seeing a reason not to. Sure, she had no idea what they were supposed to do, but she could figure that out in a moment. There was no way Zelda was going to let herself drag Anju down with her.

They exited the classroom, the hallway outside much quitter, the muffled sounds coming from the other classrooms being the only things that broke the silence.

Or, at least they were until Anju hoisted up her bag that had been about to slide off her shoulder and looked over at her. "Are you okay?"

"Of course I am."

Anju shifted their textbook from one hand to another. "Really? Because it doesn't look that way to me. Is this about the musical or about Midna?" she asked, already narrowing it down to two possibilities.

"I don't know," Zelda admitted, ""it changes from day to day. But I think that it's mostly the musical, if nothing else then just because I'll have no choice than to deal with my fear of that in just a few days.

Anju made a compassionate sound, walking as close to Zelda as her bag allowed her to. "I get that." she didn't ask Zelda why she had not told her about her panic even after Zelda had promised her to do so back in Kakariko, but Zelda knew that they were both thinking about it. "Look, Zelda, this is going to sound like it's the worst advice of all time, but right now, I think that the best you can do is to not think about it."

Another one who advised her to just stop thinking about her worries. If Zelda hadn't been so tired, she might have seen the comedy of how everyone seemed to think that she had not already tried that, but as it was, it just made her eyes even more tired and her books and computer feel two kilos heavier.

"I have already tried that," Zelda said, "it doesn't work, I keep coming back to it because I can't find anything that is distracting enough to make me forget about how nervous I am in the first place."

"Hmm," Anju paused, reaching up to tap her chin, "what if I quizzed you about the subject of today?"

"What?"

"Well, you missed most of it," Anju blinked at her, instantly becoming serious again when Zelda did not copy the motion, "but I'm almost completely sure that you knew most of it already, so why don't we go to the library, get those questions over with, and then I can ask you questions about what Mrs. Marie has just told us?"

"That-" Zelda was about to shoot down the suggestion when something made her pause. It was actually not a bad idea, not at all. "That actually sound like a good idea, I would be happy if you wanted to do that."

"Of course!"

There was a spring in Anju's step as she continued down the hall, and Zelda had to admit that her friend's excitement was infectious.

She did her best to keep the thoughts at bay all throughout the rehearsal sessions that Friday, and if Zelda had to say so herself, she thought that she did a good job. At least Thelma didn't pull her aside again to ask if everything was okay.

But still, it was not enough to fool her friends, so when Midna, Anju, and Cremia agreed to go to the dining room to get a snack to make it through the afternoon until dinner, Zelda could almost see the silent conversation that was going on just beneath the surface as Anju looked over at Midna, who returned her gaze with a short nod before turning to Zelda to ask her to come with them. The question was accompanied by a smile, but Zelda could still see right through it: they did not want to leave her alone, and if she declined the invitation, at least one of them would do the same, offering to stay behind with her. So Zelda accepted. Even if she was tired, she did not want to be the reason that her friends couldn't get a chance to sit and talk together.

Zelda ended up sitting in a chair nestled between Midna and Anju, and she couldn't shake the feeling that it was no coincidence that Midna had moved over to sit on her right side when Zelda had otherwise chosen the rightmost chair, flopping down into the seat while Cremia returned from the kitchen, carrying a little bowl with almonds in that she placed on the table in front of them.

"So," Cremia said, pulling one leg up onto the chair as she sat down, "I know that almonds might not be what you had in mind, but I just really wanted—"

"Cremia," Anju cut in, holding up her hand, "it's fine, I love almonds."

"Oh," Cremia smiled at her, "well, then at least half of the people present aren't let down by this."

"Make that seventy-five per cent," Midna said, already reaching out to throw an almond into her mouth.

Zelda could feel how they waited, no hoped, for her to say something, so she copied Midna's movement, barely pausing to add her own comment. "I think you mean a hundred per cent."

The tense atmosphere between them didn't disappear, but Zelda could see how Anju let out a breath she had been holding, no longer sitting with her shoulders raised up slightly as she waited for Zelda's answer, and how Cremia reached out to grab a couple of almonds as well.

Using the fact that she was already sitting practically right next to Zelda, Midna leant over to let her head rest on Zelda's shoulder. "I was actually thinking about something."

"Yeah?" Zelda said, using her left arm to reach out to accept the almonds as Cremia handed them back over to her to not end up moving her right arm too much and push Midna off.

"I was thinking that maybe Monday, we could gather in you guys' dorm to watch a couple of episodes of Hyrule Warriors? I haven't been able to keep up with it for the last couple of weeks, so I have an entire season that I haven't seen yet."

She worded it like it was something she had just then thought off, but the looks Midna, Anju, and Cremia exchanged revealed the truth, and Zelda could see that they had already talked about it, probably coming up with it as an attempt to be able to take their minds off the musical Monday. An idea for how they could help her through the day.

"Of course," Anju said, waiting just long enough so that, had it not been for the telling glances they had just sent each other, Zelda might not have thought they had agreed on it beforehand, "Cremia?"

Cremia shrugged, and Zelda had to hand it to her that she was at least slightly better at pretending to not have heard about the idea before than Anju had been. "Sure, why not."

"Zelda?" Midna lifted her head from Zelda's shoulder, turning to look over at her.

Zelda looked at her, almost a bit surprised at the return of the butterflies that had once again appeared in her stomach. With everything that had happened—the musical, the lost necklace, Thelma's words that had been meant as a compliment but had achieved the opposite—Zelda had almost managed to forget about that exact issue. No, not forgot, she had only barely buried it under the mountains of other worries, only for it to return now, arguably one of the worst times to do so.

So Zelda forced herself to look away, trying to will the redness on her face to vanish as she hid the feelings away again. She could deal with it, she had read books, she knew what to do, she knew she could make herself admit it to Midna someday, but just not right _now_ , not with the musical looming above her head, the threat of her completely losing it while standing on the stage still present. She could deal with both of these things, really, she could, but not at once. And for now, she had to make sure that the musical would not end up being dragged down by her personal problems, so Zelda pushed her feelings away and focused on everything except for the way Midna's eyes were sparling as she looked at her.

"Yeah, I will," she said and tried to pretend that she didn't notice the way her friends resumed sending each other worried glances.

"Good," Midna said with a tiny nod, "I also have something I need to do, but I will be back soon, so keep a chair for me at dinner, will you?"

"Yes," Zelda and Anju replied in unison while Cremia just made finger guns at Midna.

"Have fun!"

"I will." pushing her chair back, Midna got up from her chair and left the room, her pace just slightly quick enough for Zelda to get the feeling that Midna was not just going to her room to grab her phone of something like that.

But before Zelda got the chance to yell after Midna, asking her what it was she had to do, Anju moved, reaching in over Midna's vacant seat to poke Zelda's shoulder.

"Do you want to go back up to our dorm with Cremia and me?" Anju asked when she got Zelda's attention. "We were thinking that we could go over how to do our makeup for the show one more time?"

Zelda felt more like going after Midna to ask her where she was going, but she could see how tense Anju was, so she decided to stay instead, forcing a carefree tone as she answered. "Of course."

Midna didn't return in time for dinner, and as Zelda sat down next to her empty seat, she couldn't help but feel a bit worried. However, Anju and Cremia's soothing demeanour, both of them chatting with each other as they sat on the other side of the table from Zelda, having moved back to their usual seats, slowly began to rub off on her as well, making her at least able to somewhat enjoy dinner. But even though the pumpkin soup was delicious, it was not enough to completely take her mind off Midna as she kept looking over towards the entrance to the dining hall every other second, waiting for Midna to step through.

However, Midna didn't arrive until almost twenty minutes into the meal, walking in through the door like she had not at all been late, resulting in a couple of the first-year students, still used to people being on time, turning around to look at the person who had been late for dinner.

"Sup," Midna greeted them as she sat down, looking over at Zelda's bowl of soup, "pumpkin soup?"

Pausing with her spoon hallway between the plate and her mouth, Zelda just stared at her. "Where have you been?"

"There was just something that I had to take care of before I could sit down to eat—don't worry I texted a teacher to let them know that I would be a bit late for dinner," Midna answered, and Zelda got the feeling that she was trying to avoid having to answer the question.

It stung a bit to know that Midna was keeping secrets from her. Zelda had always assumed that they were close enough to tell each other everything and she didn't like the feeling of the dawning realisation that she had been wrong about that.

But at the same time, she hardly had room to complain, not when she was doing everything she possibly could to avoid telling Midna about how Zelda was almost completely certain that she was in love with her.

Getting back up from her seat, Midna strolled over towards the buffet table, returning a while later carrying her own bowl of soup, but even as she sat down again next to Zelda, the conversation around the table continuing as normal, Zelda could still feel how everything that was still left unsaid between them created a cloud of something uncertain between her and Midna.

The pumpkin soup tasted more like water as Zelda resumed eating.


	19. Chapter 19

There was an excited buzz as they all gathered in the gym, quickly getting into their costumes and doing their makeup before going to sit down on the stage, waiting for Thelma to look up from her schedule to give the last instructions.

Zelda's hands were shaking slightly, and she tried to hide it by pretending that she was only fidgeting with her sleeves, although the look that Midna sent made it clear to her that it was not working as well as she had hoped it would. Still, that did not keep her from continuing to anxiously rub her thumb over the fabric while looking over at Thelma who was still sitting in her chair, her lips moving slightly as she read through the schedule.

A single glance over towards the orchestra was enough for Zelda to know that at least she wasn't the only one in the room who was having trouble controlling her nerves. While Marin didn't exactly have as shaky hands as Zelda, she was sitting with her face almost touching her papers, shifting through the sheet music. From the look of it, Zelda would guess that Marin was going over everything one last time to make sure that nothing was out of place. Though a metallic glint in the corner of the paper revealed that they had been stapled together, Zelda could not blame Marin for having to make absolutely sure that it was all there. If Zelda had actually stuck with the piano back when she was younger and had become good enough to gather the courage to try out for the school orchestra so that she would be sitting there with Marin, she would no doubt have done the exact same thing, maybe even a little bit more, just to assure herself that she would be able to get through it.

But as it was now, Zelda did not have anything she could shift through to give herself a sense of security, so she ended up running her hand over the sleeve of her costume over and over again, trying to make the horrible feeling of not really being present in the room go away.

Finally, Thelma looked up, acknowledging their presence in the room with a short smile.

"So, this is the very last rehearsal session," she began, leaving the schedule behind on her chair as she got up to walk closer to the stage, "and I just want to say that all of you have done really well, so I'm sure that Monday will be amazing."

The way Thelma said the words were enough to let Zelda know that they had been meant to encourage them, but all that Zelda could think about was the fact that now she had another person she could let down if she made a mistake. Nayru, why could she not just enjoy this like everyone else? As Zelda looked around in the room, she could not see anyone who looked as jittery as she had to appear. Of course, it could just be that the others were better at hiding their nerves than she was, but it still left Zelda with the feeling that she was the only one who could not leave her fear of messing up behind her for long enough to enjoy herself in the present. And to make matters worse, she was the one who had decided to try out for the musical in the first place, this was all entirely her fault, she had been the one to make the decision to go to those auditions, not caring enough about the people around her to consider the fact that if she got a part, she would also take it away from someone else, someone who might be able to make it through the process of rehearsing and performing the musical without spending most of their time worrying about everything.

Rationally, Zelda knew that it was okay to feel stressed out and be scared at the prospect about having to go up on a stage, but the more she looked around, the more she could feel her thoughts spiralling out of control. What was she doing? Really, what did worrying about the musical accomplish? It did not help her prepare, it did not make her less scared of Monday, the only thing that could happen was that someone else would notice Zelda's nervousness and begin to doubt themselves as well, making Zelda's inability to get her emotions back under control the reason for other people's doubts as well.

Forcing herself to stop for a moment and take a deep breath, Zelda tried to think it through. It would be fine. Maybe she would end up making a couple of mistakes, but so would a lot of other people, and as long as they weren't about anything major, they would most likely go unnoticed. She was fine.

The worry still fluttered in her chest as Zelda turned her attention back to Thelma, but she did her best not to give it the satisfaction of affecting her.

"… we are going to go over the entire show one more time." Thelma said, and was it just something that Zelda was imagining, or did Thelma pause for a moment to look over at her to make sure that she was still listening? To be completely honest, Zelda would not be surprised if that was the case. Over the last week, Zelda had not exactly showed to be the best at paying attention when under pressure. "I would like to ask all of you to give it your best. After that, no one can ask any more of you. Understood?"

In between the sounds of agreement, Zelda felt Midna reach out to place her hand on top of Zelda's, making her stop fidgeting with the sleeve. Zelda hadn't even realised that she was still doing that, but she let Midna take her hand, moving it away from the hem of the sleeve.

Thelma finished her speech, still waiting for a moment to make sure that no one had any questions they had been waiting until the last moment to ask before she let them begin.

Overall it went well. At the very least, it showed Zelda which of her fellow students performed better when under pressure and who did worse than they usually did. Of course, Zelda did not need to be told what category she belonged to—while she would admit that her performance was not bad per se, it was also not as good as it could have been, Zelda's voice shaking slightly during the first couple of songs, and her having to focus on not falling over as she stepped off the platform, not trusting her shaky legs to not betray her by giving out. But she made it through, and although she could have done better she could also have done a lot worse.

At the very least she was not the only one to have that reaction. While Ashei did not make a single mistake during the dance section of Ghost Attack, Ravio did not make as intimidating a Ghirahim as he usually did. Although he made it through the song he shared with Link, technically pulling it off, Zelda could see how he tried to hide his shaky hands behind himself.

But Thelma seemed satisfied with the performance, and the fact that Thelma did not once comment on the mistakes Zelda saw was almost enough to make Zelda stop for a moment to ask herself if it was really as bad as she thought. But only almost, and Zelda could still hear her rapid heartbeat in her ears as she sat back down on the stage to wait for Thelma to comment on the performance.

"Well," Thelma began, "that was perfect. That's all I can say about how you did today, so I hope that you will listen to it and keep it in mind over this weekend. I know that most of the people sitting in this room are probably going to have a hard time sleeping until the show is over, but I would still like to ask you to at least try not to lose too much sleep by worrying about how you will do Monday." she let her gaze pass over each and every one of the students, but Zelda still got a feeling that she had not succeeded in keeping her nervousness hidden. Why else would Thelma have been able to get so close to how Zelda was feeling? Unless, of course, that feeling like this was really just a part of the experience and Zelda was simply the only one present who was bad at keeping her emotions hidden inside. She entertained the thought for a second before pushing it aside. It was just not plausible.

Pacing back and forth between one end of the scene and the other, Thelma continued. "Tomorrow, we have planned a spa day for everyone involved in the musical. I know that these rehearsal sessions have already taken up a lot of your time, and the spay day is not obligatory, but I still hope that you will at least consider showing up—I have planned for us to just relax, maybe hear the soundtrack to Skyward once more, but not anything more complicated or difficult than that."

A few people nodded back at her, voicing their intention to come, but for the most part, people just let out a little, tired sigh as Thelma finished up and let them leave again.

"You are coming, right?" Midna asked, pulling Zelda up with her as she got up from the ground.

Zelda opened her mouth to answer, but the words got stuck in her throat. She coughed, making sure to clear her mind before she repeated. "Yes."

"Great!" Midna beamed down at her as they made their way over to the changing room.

"Mum," Zelda said, pressing the phone closer to her ear as she interrupted Impa's long string of words, "I'm fine, don't worry. I just called to make sure that you had remembered to buy the tickets for the musical."

"Of course I have!" Impa said with a huff. "I took care of that weeks ago, don't worry about it, Zelda, I wouldn't forget about something like that."

The words 'with you constantly calling me to rant about the musical I couldn't do anything but remember' was left unsaid, but Zelda could still hear them hidden behind her mother's words.

Still anxiously shuffling around her room, Zelda reached up to rub her forehead with her hand. "I know, I just needed to make sure. Is Tetra coming as well?"

"Yes, the swimming competition ended up being moved to another day—something came up, I'm sorry that I forgot to tell you about it."

Zelda got the feeling that her mum had indeed told her about the competition. But it had to have been moved at least a couple of months ago, and with how much space everything relating to the musical had taken up in Zelda's mind, it wouldn't surprise her if she had completely forgotten about a swimming competition to make room for her worries. And then there was also the issue of the _thing_ between Zelda and Midna.

She barely managed to stop herself in time as she reached up to touch the necklace, reminding herself that it was gone before she would have to make the discovery once more. This was not about her; Impa had been in the middle of telling her about Tetra.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Zelda said, "how did Tetra take it?"

"Oh, we got the letter a couple of months in advance, and she hadn't had time to get all worked up about the competition so she wasn't too upset that it ended up being moved after all. And when she found out that you were in the musical, she actually said that she was happy it had been moved, otherwise she would have had to choose between seeing you in the musical and the competition." Impa chuckled, clearly recalling the memory. "It was actually really sweet; I should have gotten it on tape so that I could send it to you."

"Yeah, but mum," Zelda interrupted, not seeing how thinking about what she missed out on by not being home with her family that often could do anything for her already sour mood, "I don't think… I don't think the musical is going to be that great." she let out the end of the sentence, talking as quickly as possible so that she would not have time to think about her words.

"What? Why is that, Zelda? Weren't the other people involved doing great at rehearsal?"

It felt a bit like a punch to the gut to be reminded that everyone else either weren't nervous or were a lot better than her at controlling their emotions, but Zelda gritted her teeth, not wanting to let her mum feel guilty about her badly chosen words. "They are. And it's not an issue about anyone else not being good enough, it's just me, I know that I'm going to mess up something while on stage, I'm already nervous, and it's only going to get worse the closer we get to Monday, so there's no way I can get through the entire musical without making a huge mistake and dragging the entire thing down with me."

Zelda could almost hear her mum supress a sigh. "Zelda, it's completely normal to feel nervous leading up to a show—maybe not as much as you are right now—"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Zelda, you have always been good at a lot of things—"

"No, I was absolutely horrible at swimming. Don't you remember that time, back when Tetra was five, where she challenged me to swim five laps and it took me almost four times longer to complete the challenge than it took her?"

"See, that's what I'm talking about, Zelda," Impa said, not answering the question itself, "you always focus on the little thing you couldn't do—"

"Yeah, it's called being realistic, you have to take note of the things you can't do so that you'll know what to avoid."

"No, it's really not. Listen, you always do that thing where you focus on a tiny mistake instead of realising that, for the most part, you actually did pretty well. You have always done that, but I thought that maybe it was just because you were trying to keep in mind what you wanted to improve."

"But?" Zelda asked, sensing that Impa's conclusion had changed since them. She wasn't sure why she was so anxious all of a sudden, but she had to keep herself from chewing on her bottom lip as her mum continued.

"But I don't think that's what you are doing anymore. Instead, you are always focusing on the little mistakes which then keep you from enjoying any other thing that is happening."

"So? That doesn't have anything to do with the musical." but if she was honest with herself, Zelda already knew that it did. Her mum was right, Zelda had already halfway reached the same conclusion herself even if it was easier to ignore it and just focus on the things that appeared easier to improve.

"Zelda, even if you make a few mistakes during the musical, there was still a lot more chances to mess it up where you avoided doing so. So, please, will you try to think of that this weekend? I just want you to at least be able to find some joy in being up on the stage."

"But, mum, I can't promise that I'll have fun," Zelda sighed, trying to not let her voice reveal how much the expectation for her to enjoy herself was already weighing down on her. The last thing she needed was the external pressure of being told that she needed to find being onstage during the musical absolutely hilarious.

"I know, and I'm not telling you that you have to, I'm just asking you to see if you can ignore the audience for a short while."

"I…" Zelda hesitated; her eyes scanning around the room like that would help her find the words, "I don't know if I can do that."

"Just try not to look to closely on anyone sitting among the audience and you'll be fine—the lightning should help you do that."

Releasing a sigh, Zelda could almost physically feel how all of the will to fight Impa's words left her. "I can try."

"I couldn't have asked any more of you."

"I guess not."

"No, Zelda, I'm proud of you for doing this."

What was that supposed to mean now? Since when was crying over a musical something to be proud of?

"For doing what?" Zelda asked. "Having signed up for the musical?"

"Well, in the beginning, I was proud of you for doing that," Impa said, "but now, I'm just proud and so very happy that you are calling me about this."

Why? Why would anyone be proud let alone _happy_ that they were getting phone calls all the time so that Zelda could cry and whine about something she herself had signed up for?

But Zelda had a feeling that Impa would also have some well thought-out answer for that question as well, something to make her feel better, so she kept the question to herself. There was no reason to take up any more time when it was so obvious that Zelda would not start feeling more confident about the musical and her role in it. Right now, the best thing she could do was probably to try and forget that it would ever be Monday.

"Thank you, mum. I will see you on Monday then."

A moment of silence passed, and Zelda knew that Impa was trying to gauge whether or not the best thing to do in the situation was to end the call or to continue talking, until she settled on the former. "Goodbye, Zelda."

The phone beeped as Zelda let it fall the last two centimetres down onto her bedside table.

Maybe it was because it was the day before the musical and everyone—students involved with the musical and students who had been able to continue with their usual schedules for the last couple of weeks alike—was chatting about it, giddy excitement filling the room, or perhaps it really had nothing to do with the musical and the only reason was that it was Sunday, but breakfast that morning consisted of pancakes.

The unexpected but still welcomed surprise led to Midna pilling her plate high before she sat down at the table and used her fork and knife to move one of the pancakes over onto Zelda's empty plate.

"Syrup?" Midna asked, revealing how she had taken the bottle with the sticky liquid from the buffet table and back to her own table. Normally, Zelda would have given her some light-hearted lecture about how they weren't supposed to do that, everyone had to be able to find the syrup without having to search the room to figure out who had it, but she didn't feel up for that.

Her head ached, a headache forming right behind her eyes. She hadn't slept well that night, having spent most of it lying awake, starring up into the ceiling as she tried to talk herself out of waking up Anju as well just to have someone to talk to. It was not worth it, even if Zelda gave in and ruined her friend's sleep, she knew that she would most likely give up on actually talking with her, and Anju would have woken up for nothing at all.

"No, but thank you though," Zelda said, barely convincing herself to lift up the cutlery and start cutting the pancake into smaller pieces. She didn't miss the worried glances Midna, Anju, and Cremia exchanged as she pushed a piece of pancake into her mouth.

It tasted like cardboard with the texture of a sponge. Zelda kept chewing, but it felt like the food only grew in size, a thing that did not exactly help on the taste. After what felt like several minutes but probably only lasted a couple of seconds, Zelda began to idly wonder what she was supposed to do about that. She needed food, knew that she was hungry even if that was not exactly the signals her stomach was sending her, but what if the food didn't agree with her? She could take another bite, but what if that only made everything worse, expanding in size as well?

Someone reached out to touch her hand, and Zelda looked up to find that Midna had placed her hand on top of Zelda's, keeping her from being able to use her fork. Well, with how things were going, it seemed that it would also take a while before Zelda really had any use of her fork though. Maybe the kitchen staff would let her stay for a little longer if she made sure not to tell them that she had problems eating their food, insulting their hard work, and instead told a lie about feeling nervous about the show.

Zelda's stomach was churning. Maybe it wouldn't be that big of a lie after all.

"Zelda, you're thinking about the musical, aren't you?" Midna asked, her voice somehow breaking through Zelda's mental wall.

"Yeah," Zelda answered through her mouthful of pancake, barely keeping herself from adding an 'obviously' to the end of the sentence. Her friends weren't the ones she was frustrated with, no one was—except perhaps for herself—and being rude to them was of no use.

At least Midna didn't begin to ask Zelda to just stop thinking about the show. Zelda didn't know if it was because Midna knew that Zelda had already tried that multiple times before only for her attempt to fail after a few minutes or if she had just given up getting through to her that way. Maybe it was a combination of both explanations.

Instead, Midna looked over at the pancake that was still lying on Zelda's plate, barely touched. "Planning to eat that, Zel?" Midna joked, though her voice lacked the usual humorous tone, the quip falling flat the moment it had left her mouth.

"I hope so," Zelda said, giving up on the piece of pancake and simply swallowing it while trying to not let it show how much the action made her throat hurt. Making Midna's hand fall back onto the table in the process, Zelda lifted up her fork and knife and cut another piece of pancake. It was not just a single instance of bad luck in regards to the texture of the pancake, Zelda thought; the rest of the pancake seemed to suffer from the same issue, tasting more like paper than food.

She could see how Midna was looking at her throughout the entire thing, trying to not look affected, though she failed miserably at the task. Zelda knew that feeling guilty about the way that Midna's joking smile was getting more and more fake with each passing second, the corners of her mouth gradually lowering as Midna's glance remained settled on Zelda, would not help her, so she looked down and tried to think about nothing but the pancake.

"Well," Midna said, a fake cheery tone in her voice, "that's lucky, because I was actually thinking that maybe, after we are finished eating, we could go for a walk around the school." Midna looked away from her for a moment to instead glance down at her clock. "there is still about two hours left until we have to get to the spa day-thing, so that should leave of with plenty of time for a walk."

The 'if Zelda could only hurry up a bit and not spend an hour here trying to make it through breakfast without starting to cry again' was left unsaid, something Zelda was thankful for.

"Sure, why not," Anju said, breaking the silence as she placed her fork back down on her plate to answer Midna, "maybe we could even incorporate a short walk in the forest?"

"Of course? Cremia?"

"I'll be coming as well," Cremia responded, her answer coming just a little too quickly, giving Zelda the feeling that it had been rehearsed already or at least that there was no way Cremia would ever have said no.

"Great! And what about you, Zelda?"

She forced herself not to shovel another bite of pancake into her mouth to avoid having to answer the question, instead looking over at Midna with a grimace that might be classified as a grin, but could just as well be called a frown depending on who she asked.

"If you are all going on a walk, then I'll be coming as well."

There was an almost audible sigh of relief, but Zelda pretended not to notice the sound. She wasn't sure if she did it for the sake of her friends or if it was to delay the moment she had to confront herself with the fact that her complete inability to find a healthy way to cope with the mess her feelings had turned into lately was affecting her friends.

It was incredibly selfish, Zelda knew that, but she also didn't know how to stop.

Throughout the rest of the meal, Zelda had to constantly remind herself not to reach up for her necklace to avoid having to come face to face with the shock of it not being there again.

Zelda had fully prepared herself for having to endure over an hour of walking around outside with her friends, keeping up the façade of everything being okay inside of her to give them a chance to enjoy the scenery. And that was how it started as well, but somewhere along the way, it began to change.

She wasn't exactly sure what had brought on the change. Once, she would have insisted that it was just the beauty of the forest around her, but now, Zelda had the nagging feeling that her improved mood had more to do with the fact that, while Anju and Cremia were walking in front of her, hand in hand, sometimes stopping to kiss each other with each kiss being interrupted by fits of giggles, Midna had slowed down a bit to walk right behind them, next to Zelda, slowly reaching out to let her fingers brush over Zelda's hands, letting it stay like that for a while until Zelda returned the gesture by holding her hand.

No matter the reasons, the result was that when they returned to the school, barely making it to the drama room in time, Zelda was still feeling like she was about to pass out at the thought of having to walk up onto the stage the next day, but at the very least, she was able to somewhat push the thought away, letting it wait for another day.

Maybe it was not the best way to handle it, not when she would have to face reality the next day, but right then, Zelda found that she could not bring herself to care about it. Now, at least she had the chance to simply exist without having to worry about the musical every waking moment.

The light in the drama room was dimmed as they entered, barely enough for Zelda to see that the usual circle of chairs was no longer there, the chairs having been stacked and pushed out against the walls to make space for the mats on the floor.

Zelda looked around. The yoga mats covered almost every centimetre of the floor, or at least the parts of it that was not already taken up by instruments, only leaving a narrow aisle of free space to allow them to move through the room to find an empty mat for each of them.

She ended up lying down on a mat between Midna and Marin while Anju and Cremia left for the other side of the room where there were another couple of vacant spots left.

The soft material of the mat let Zelda to turn around a couple of times, trying to find the most comfortable position. It was not the same as her bed, the mat nowhere near the same as an actual mattress, but it still did not feel like she was lying on the floor as Zelda finally settled on simply lying on her left side, the position allowing her to look over at Midna.

Her friend was still trying to figure out how to lie on the mat, the fabric ending just a bit too soon, meaning that Midna had to be careful not to kick the person lying on the next mat on accident as she did not have space for her feet on her own mat.

Just as Midna finally settled on simply pulling her knees up to her chest—perhaps showing a bit too much consideration for the student lying on the map situated at her feet as that left a good chunk of Midna's mat still unused—Zelda heard the sound of footsteps coming from the makeshift stage that had yet to be taken down.

"Hello," Zelda heard Thelma say, both the slight echo to her words as well as the fact that Zelda had no problem hearing her making her realise that Thelma had picked up the microphone connecting her to the speakers towards the back of the room, "and thank you for coming to this. Now, I know that you have heard it a lot of times already, but I'm going to repeat it again so please bear with me. Just relax now. I'm going to hand you a face mask," Zelda heard the sound of shuffling, as Thelma went over to the nearest student, no doubt to hand them the mask in question, "so if you will take one and then pass the rest over to the other students, thank you".

The silence in the room did not return even as Thelma went quiet to wait for them to follow her instructions, the sound of people whispering to one another as they handed the face masks over to the next person still present.

Zelda waited, and before long, Midna placed the little plastic bag with the face mask in on the mat right in front of Zelda's face. It was too dark for Zelda to read the small words that had been printed onto the packaging, so she didn't, instead accepting the cardboard box that Midna handed to her to move it over to Marin.

Maybe Thelma had a better view of the situation from where she was standing, because Zelda wasn't sure exactly when everyone had their own mask, still thinking that nearly half the room had yet to receive theirs as Thelma lifted up the microphone again to continue.

"I'm going to start the soundtrack to Skyward in just a moment," Thelma said, "try not to think too much about anything as I do so, it's not supposed to make you start worrying about how you will do tomorrow, it's just so that it won't be this silent." Zelda heard Thelma move over the stage, towards the controls of the loudspeakers, and the next moment, the first song of the soundtrack began, filling the room with the sound of the Hero's voice.

After having spent so much time hearing her classmates perform the song over and over again, hearing someone else sing the song felt a bit strange, and Zelda halfway expected Thelma to exclaim that she had made a mistake before starting the real recording of the song.

But that didn't happen, and Thelma didn't sound like she noticed anything weird about the song as she went back to stand near the centre of the stage. "Now, you can put on your face masks if you want to, though it's totally fine if you prefer to just listen to the songs instead."

Zelda could hear how almost everyone present didn't seem to prefer to just listen to the song, as the sound of multiple plastic sachets being torn open reached her ears. Right next to her, Zelda could see Midna do the same, so she followed suit as well, reaching over to pick up the face mask.

It smelt a bit like flowers, although it was nowhere near the real deal, having a strong chemical hint to it as well, but it was enough to make Zelda momentarily forget where she was as the smell hit her, so similar to Midna's perfume that the effect was almost dizzying, making Zelda thankful that she was already lying down on the ground.

When no one else in the room except for her seemed to have the same strong reaction to the face mask, Zelda did her best to ignore it as she began to rub the green mask that had been inside the plastic out over her face, rolling over to lie on her back so that it would not end up dripping onto the mat.

In the background, Zelda was vaguely aware that the first song had ended and that Ghost Attack had begun, not even the disharmonic sounds of the music being enough to really make her pay attention to it.

If this was what Thelma had had as a goal when she had decided to have a spa day, giving them a moment where they didn't have to think about the musical, Zelda had to admit that she had succeeded already. Even though practically everything around Zelda—the songs, the room, the stacks of chairs—should serve as a constant reminder of the musical, the combination of it all at the same time made her able to exist there for a moment without having to think about anything at all.

Although it could hardly really qualify for the title of 'spa day' Zelda had to give it to Thelma that it was probably the best thing that could have happened for her right now, everyone silent and her brain for once following their example as well.

Ballad of the Goddess began, and Zelda heard Midna move around next to her. Zelda didn't get much time to wonder what was happening, for the next moment, Midna had reached out to touch Zelda's hand, and as they lay there with interlaced fingers, Zelda could have sworn that her heart missed a beat from pure joy.

Before Zelda even had time to realise it, the soundtrack ended, and with it, the nice, relaxed atmosphere as well, as people began sitting up, making it hard for Zelda to hear everything of what Thelma was saying. However, she did manage to catch most of it, the message essentially being that they should remember to peel the face mask off soon.

They left the drama room all at once, making it difficult for anyone to get to the door as they all crowded around it.

Turning around to look back at Zelda, Midna nodded towards the crowd. "Do you think we'll get out of here today?"

Returning Midna's smile, Zelda pretended to think about it. "Maybe. Though it might take a few hours."

It did not take hours. In fact, it barely took a few minutes before Zelda and Midna could meet up with Anju and Cremia outside in the hallway.

The sudden change from the relative darkness in the drama room to the brightly lit hallways combined with the fact that she had spent the last hour lying completely still on the ground had quite the disconcerting effect on Zelda, and, still in the process of adjusting to the amount of light that flooded her vision, she took a step forward only to feel the room was tip beneath her.

"Whoa," Midna laughed as she reached out to pull Zelda close, keeping her from falling over, "maybe we should have waited for a moment longer before we left the room, huh?"

Zelda tried to shake her head, though she knew that the way she was not even trying to do anything to stand on her own, not reaching out to remove Midna's arm from around her waist was not doing much to convince her friends that she was ready to start walking back to her dorm.

"Perhaps," Zelda said and hoped that Midna wouldn't notice that her heart began to beat faster. The sensation of her blood flowing through her veins to the beat of her heart felt loud enough that everyone in the room should be able to hear it, but since no one mentioned it, Zelda chose not to draw their attention to it, instead letting herself be pulled along as Midna, Anju, and Cremia began to move through the corridor, heading towards Zelda and Anju's dorm to watch a recording of another musical.


	20. Chapter 20

Zelda woke up to see rays of sun peeking in through the window. A quick glance over at her phone revealed that her alarm would have woken her up in just a few minutes. There was no reason to even attempt to go back to sleep, and as Zelda looked into the wall, she knew that even if she had attempted to fall asleep again, she would not have had any luck.

Everything in her was preparing for having to step up onto the stage in just a few hours, her heart already picking up the pace, giving Zelda the same feeling as when she had just run around the entire school several times.

However, as Zelda waited for her alarm to wake up Anju as well, searching for a way to classify the feeling in her stomach, she knew that it was different from normal. Though her stomach was sure to make it difficult for her to get through breakfast, constantly contracting before relaxing again, it was nowhere near as uncomfortable as the usual feeling of nervousness, and when Zelda looked over at Anju, waiting for her roommate to wake up, she could perhaps have mistaken the feeling for being some sort of excitement at the prospect of having to do her best later that day when the rest of the school and the parents of the other students would gather to watch the musical.

Eventually, Anju began to stir, slowly lifting her head from her pillow only to see that Zelda was already awake.

"What time is it?" Anju mumbled, still half asleep, before she suddenly sat up in her bed, eyes wide and her voice rising a bit. "Wait, the alarm, it hasn't—I still have time before I have to get up, right?"

"Yes," Zelda said, before the rest got drowned out by the sound of the alarm as it began ringing loudly, almost like it wanted to assure Anju that she still had plenty of time.

It worked, and Anju pressed a hand to her chest while letting out a sigh of relief. "Whoa, I just managed to get pretty worried there," letting her arm fall back down to her side, Anju looked over at Zelda to blink at her, "but turns out that there was no need to do that. Are you ready for me to text Cremia and Midna, or would you like a moment to get ready first?"

"No, no, it's fine with me if you just text them now."

"Great!" Anju jumped out of her bed, her energy levels taking Zelda by surprise. Although Zelda had finally managed to get a full night's sleep and felt relatively awake, she still had to take a moment to rub her eyes before she got out of her bed as well.

While Zelda began to dig through her dresser for something to wear, not necessarily seeing a reason to still be in her old leggings and t-shirt when Midna and Cremia arrived, Anju grabbed her phone from her bedside table, the sound of her pressing the buttons on the screen seeming incredibly loud in the otherwise quiet room.

"They will be here in just a moment," Anju informed her after a while, placing her phone down on her desk, "we just have to prepare for us to be able to watch the episodes, and then they will bring crispbread and popcorn. Is that okay with you?"

"Of course," Zelda said, trying to remind herself that Anju was just trying to look out for her and that the question was not intended to make Zelda feel bad for making her friends feel like they had to constantly ask for permission to do anything.

At least her answer seemed to be the same as what Anju had already written to Midna and Cremia, or at least Anju didn't move to pick up her phone to send another text, clarifying Zelda's opinion.

Instead, Anju went out to their bathroom, and moments later, Zelda could hear how Anju started to brush her teeth, only slightly interrupted a couple of times as Anju hummed some of the lyrics from Ghost Attack to herself. Even though she had still not gotten off the stage and was still not able to say that she had managed to get through the entire musical without crying and messing up her scenes, Zelda couldn't keep a small smile off her face as she went through the rest of her morning routine.

Maybe Midna and Cremia knew to give them some time to get ready, or perhaps they had also written to Anju before they were ready to leave their room, but they didn't arrive until almost half an hour later, carrying plates with crispbread and a bowl filled to the brim with freshly popped popcorn. It was a bit more than Zelda had expected, and she couldn't help but eye the popcorn with a questioning glance.

Of course Midna picked up on it, and, motioning towards the bowl, she explained. "Since we will be here instead of going to the dining hall to get breakfast, we decided that it would probably be a good idea to bring plenty of food."

Zelda didn't ask exactly who 'we' were, but she had a feeling that it probably included Midna, Anju, and Cremia. After Zelda had gotten stuck eating her pancakes the day before, crying over what had been supposed to be a treat, it would not surprise her if they had decided to make sure that they would not end up in the same situation the day of the musical.

However, Zelda found that she didn't mind it, and that, even though just a little week before, she would probably have felt completely differently about the gesture, she didn't feel too guilty about the fact that she was keeping her friends from being able to go to the dining hall to eat.

Walking over to sit down on Anju's bed, Cremia shoved a handful of popcorn into her mouth, waiting for a moment, before she looked over at her girlfriend. "Did you find the new season, Anju?" she asked, pulling her legs up under her.

Anju winked at her. "Of course I did, don't you think I would have texted you if I hadn't?" Anju said, having already leant in for a kiss.

"Okay, but if you two lovebirds could help me find the computer, then that would be nice as well seeing as that would probably help us actually be able to watch the episodes," Midna commented, interrupting Anju and Cremia.

Cremia punched Midna lightly on the shoulder while Anju just laughed, pushing herself off the bed to pick up her computer from its usual placement her desk.

"Here it is," Anju said, sitting back down next to Cremia as both Zelda and Midna moved closer to them, Midna holding the plate of crispbread out towards Zelda to offer her a piece.

Accepting the piece of bread, Zelda did her best to avoid getting crumbs all over Anju's bed while she looked over at the computer screen, waiting for Anju to find the first episode of the new season. The screen froze for a moment as the computer began to load the video, and then it began.

"Can you turn up the volume?" Midna asked when the first line got delivered, the sound barely audible, making it so that, had it not been for the subtitles, they would not have been able to tell that anyone had said anything at all.

"Of course." Anju did as Midna had asked, pressing a couple of buttons on her computer before they all leant in again, this time able to make out every word.

At least it seemed that the school understood the fact that no one who had anything to do with the musical would be able to focus on anything until they were done with the musical, and as a result of that, there were no classes planned for that day.

For the last two years, when Zelda had not been involved in the musical, that day had been almost like any other day, except for the fact that Midna, Anju, and Cremia had disappeared early in the afternoon to go and get ready for the musical, but now, Zelda following along with them to the dressing room the moment the clock on the computer showed that there were only ten minutes left until it was three o'clock and they were supposed to be there to get into their costumes and do their makeup, that had all changed.

Every sound around her seemed thundering as they went down the stairs in the entrance hall, having to hurry a bit to make sure they would be there on time, turning around the corners in the deserted hallways. It was exactly the lack of people that meant that they made it to the gym in time, only to see that it was crowded with people, most of them being parents of the other students, at least from what Zelda could see.

"Don't look around too much," Zelda heard Midna whisper as she took her hand, leading her through the crowd, "it will not help you in any way."

Zelda followed Midna's advice and looked down at the floor as she let her friends drag her through the mass of people chatting to one another.

At last, they made it into the changing room.

It wasn't exactly any more peaceful or less loud in there. People walked around, all trying to get into their costumes and do their makeup as effectively as possible while still making sure that they would not be in the way of anyone, the result being that no one achieved that goal, constantly bumping into each other instead.

As they stood there, waiting for an opening to walk over to the costumes, Zelda saw how Mipha and Link came dangerously close to colliding with each other, Link only stopping at the last moment when he realised that he had been about to walk into Mipha. Seeing as he had been carrying what Zelda was sure was an eyeshadow palette, they should probably be grateful that Link had had time to react as there was no way they would have had the time to try to get the colourful dust off Link's costume, he had dropped it. Of course, that was assuming that Mipha did not know some genius trick to getting makeup off clothes, and seeing how Mipha had been able to fix up the costumes in the first place, it would actually not come as a surprise to Zelda if she did know such a secret.

Finally, there was a clearing in the crowd, and they all hurried to get to the other side of the room where the costumes were kept.

"Farore," Cremia exclaimed as she finally could begin to get dressed, "it didn't feel this crowded when we rehearsed, or did I just not notice anything at all?"

"No," Anju said, reaching out to give Cremia a pat on the shoulder, "I think it's because everyone are a bit stressed out right now, having to be ready at a set time and all that."

"Oh, yeah, like last year?" Cremia asked.

"Yes."

When she looked around, Zelda had to admit that Anju was probably right. Almost everyone in the room was running around as quickly as they could given the lack of space, either searching for some accessory or for an entire article of clothing. It was almost funny how Zelda was more relaxed now than she had been for weeks. Here she was, having spent the last several days in an almost constant state of near tears at the thought of having to do this, and yet she was arguably one of the calmest persons in the room.

Of course, it came at the cost of a feeling of numbness and distance; almost like she wasn't really there at all, but if that was the price she would have to pay to avoid breaking down while up on the stage, then Zelda was willing to pay it.

Midna, Anju, and Cremia all began to make their way over to the makeup station, their efficiency reminding Zelda that although she had never tried this before, they had all been through the process of getting into costume on the day of the show two times before. So, not delving anymore on the spreading numbness inside of her, Zelda followed along, grabbing Hylia's dress before she began to dab the makeup onto her face.

"Zelda, I actually think I saw your family in the crowd outside," Cremia said, and Zelda's hand almost slipped. She only barely had time to yank her hand away from her face to keep herself from leaving a long line of eyeliner all over her cheek.

"Uh…" she said, unsure of how to respond.

Luckily, there was no need for her to even say anything at all, as Cremia seemed content with the short, response.

"Yeah, I thought that you might prefer not to say hello to them until after the show, but I just felt like you should still know that they made it here on time."

Cremia had been right about the first half of her assumption. Zelda really did not need to talk to her family until after the musical, when there was no longer a risk of someone saying anything that could make her become nervous again. However, Zelda would have been just as elated—probably even happier—if she had not been told about her family being there. It wasn't that she didn't want them to see her in the musical, of course she wanted them to do that, but a reminder that if she made a mistake, her family would see it first-hand was not what she needed right then.

"Hey, Zelda, that actually reminds me," Midna said, leaning in over Zelda's shoulder as she cut through Zelda's anxious thoughts, "I actually have a surprise for you—kind of a present for you to open before the show." she handed her a small package covered in blue gift-wrapping paper.

"Before the show?" Zelda repeated, almost convinced that she had misheard.

But Midna just took a step closer, nudging Zelda's arm with the present. "Yeah, I think you might need it during the show. Come on, open it!"

Zelda took the present and slowly began to remove the tape keeping the paper in place, only to reveal a little box inside. To Zelda, it looked a lot like the ones that honey candy arrived in when buying it online, although the box had been painted white to cover the name of the company.

"Thank you," Zelda said, "I'm really happy for this, but I think I'm going to wait until after the show—"

Midna interrupted her before she got to finish the sentence. "No, it's not sweets, look inside the box."

Coaxing the lid off the box, Zelda tried to focus on nothing except for what she was doing and definitely not the way that Midna's hair was falling down onto her shoulder as Midna leant in over her to get a look at the box.

The lid came off, revealing that Midna had lined the inside of the box with a crumpled up napkin, the purple colour of the serviette creating a stark contrast with the piece of jewellery that was resting on top of the serviette.

She could have sworn that her heart skipped a beat when she recognised the pendant, the harp glittering up at her.

"Is this…" Zelda said, trying to fight off the tears to get the words out, "is this…" she had to give up. There was no way for her to ask the question, not without bursting into tears.

But Midna seemed to already know what she was trying to say. "Yep, it's another necklace from the souvenir shop at Kakariko Museum—just like the one that disappeared."

Midna had not been prepared for Zelda's reaction, so when Zelda turned around, jumping up from her sitting position to almost throw herself over at Midna as she wrapped her arms around her in a tight embrace, Midna had to take a step backwards to keep them from falling over.

"I will take that as a sign that you liked the present," Midna commented as she regained her balance, reaching out to place a hand on Zelda's back to keep her upright as well.

Looking up at Midna's face, Zelda could see her own joy reflected in Midna's eyes, dimples appearing as she sent Zelda a wide smile. Right then, Zelda could not understand how she had never noticed that before, how everything about Midna's face seemed to highlight the rest, soon making Zelda have to look away to compose herself and make sure she did not end up blurting out an unplanned confession that might end up affecting both of their performances.

So instead, Zelda took a deep breath before she looked back up to meet Midna's gaze. "I love it. I… I can't believe that you did that—well, I mean, of course I can, you did do it after all, but—" she was rambling, Zelda knew that, but she could not make herself stop as the words continued, "I mean—"

"Hey," Midna said, interrupting the flow of words, "I'm just glad to hear that you liked it."

That gave Zelda time to collect herself and stop her rambling. Taking a moment to collect herself, she moved closer to Midna, hugging her even closer.

"Thank you. It means a lot."

"I'm happy to hear that," Midna responded. Zelda didn't have to look up to know that Midna was a close to tears as she was, and the next moment, Anju proved her right, moving over to touch Zelda's shoulder.

"Whoa, there," she said, a laugh hidden in her voice, "can you try to not cry until after the musical—we have to be ready soon."

Pushing herself away from Midna and resisting the urge to wipe the tears away from the corners of her eyes, knowing that it would smudge her makeup to do so, Zelda did as Anju told her to.

"Really, thank you." She said as she took the necklace out of the box, holding it tightly and letting the cold metal help against the warmth around her.

"I am just happy that you liked it," Midna repeated again, reaching out to let her hand rest on top of Zelda's, both of them touching the chain of the necklace, "you know, when I couldn't find the first necklace anywhere, I really feared that you would not be able to make it through that."

"Yeah," Zelda admitted, thinking back on the way she had reacted, completely shutting off and unable to do much else than lie on her bed, "so did I for a moment. Speaking of which, how did you even get this? I didn't hear anything about you going to Kakariko Village."

"No, of course not." Midna's elbow brushed against her arm. "It was supposed to be a surprise, so I did my best to keep it hidden from you—to be honest, I thought that you had figured it out, so seeing that you didn't actually felt pretty great—but to answer your question, I went to Kakariko last Friday."

"Last Friday…" Zelda echoed, "wait, are you talking about that Friday where you were late for dinner?"

"Exactly! I thought that you had guessed where I had been when you started asking questions, but, luckily, it was just me worrying over nothing." taking her eyes off Zelda, Midna looked over at Anju and Cremia to send them a little wave. "Thank you for helping out by the way."

"Wait, they knew about it?" Zelda asked.

"Yup," Cremia said, popping the 'p' as Anju threw and arm around her shoulders, a proud look on her face, "Midna had asked us to help her keep you distracted while she was away."

"I can't believe that I didn't notice any of it," Zelda said, her head still spinning with the revelation, "are you seriously telling me that all three of you knew about this and that you managed to keep it a secret the entire weekend, not once letting anything slip?"

Anju responded with a laugh. "Yes, it actually wasn't even that difficult—of course, I'm also pretty good at keeping secrets already, if I have to say so myself—"

She was interrupted by Midna elbowing her, not enough for it to have hurt, but enough for it to make Anju take a step to the side, almost walking into Cremia in the process.

"Maybe not that talented as you think," Midna commented, a teasing glint still present in her eyes.

The thought that maybe Midna had already found out about Zelda's feelings for her no longer being solely platonic made Zelda look back and forth between them, searching for a proof that that might be the case. However, Midna kept silently glaring at Anju, not once looking over at Zelda, so after a few seconds, Zelda decided to hope that it was still a secret between herself and Anju.

Raising her hands in an apologising gesture, Anju laughed up at Midna. "Okay, maybe you're right. But, Zelda," having not been prepared for the change of subject and for her friends to turn their attention towards her again, Zelda quickly put on a neutral expression, doing her best to make sure that they would not notice her reaction to Anju's joke, allowing Anju to continue, "I think we need to hurry up a bit." she gestured towards the people around them to show that almost everyone was already fully in costume, just finishing up their makeup.

"Yeah, we probably should," Zelda agreed, bowing her head.

She still clutched the necklace tight as she went over to place it down on top of her pile of clothes, tugging it in to make sure that it would not get pushed down onto the floor by someone walking past and get lost again. Even though she could not exactly wear it during the show—not with the risk of the lightning being reflected by the metal, or the people sitting closest to the stage maybe being able to spot it—simply knowing that it was there, waiting for her, was enough to push the numb feeling back a bit, instead making space for the glee of knowing that Midna had actually went all the way back to Kakariko in an attempt to make her feel less nervous about the musical.

As she finished up her makeup, remembering to use plenty of blush, Zelda wasn't sure if the butterflies fluttering around in her stomach were the result of the fact that the show would begin in just a little under half an hour or how much Midna had done to make sure that Zelda would make it through it.

They might have spent quite the amount of time on opening the present, but all four of them made it in time for when Thelma came in to tell them that they had to be in position in just ten minutes.

Zelda left the room, holding onto Midna's hand as they walked behind the stage to be able to start on the right side. Through the backdrop separating them from the audience sitting in the gym, Zelda could still hear the murmurs coming from the people present. It was like a wall of sound, barely being kept away from her by the black curtain used to hide the sides of the stage, but as Midna squeezed her hand and Zelda thought about the necklaced safely tugged away in the pocket of her blouse, she found that she was able to not think too much about it, not even as she had to quickly sneak onto the stage to get up on the platform so that she could start the show up under the ceiling.

The show began, the orchestra performing better than ever before. From her position on the platform, Zelda could just barely see Marin sitting with her harp, and though the angle as well as the distance prevented Zelda from seeing her face, she could easily imagine the focused look on Marin's face.

The top part of the stage, intended to hide Zelda as well as her platform from the audience before it was time for her to descend, made it so that Zelda could only see the stage below her as well as the orchestra. She could of course hear the muffled whispers coming from the other students and their parents, but she could not see them sitting there, something Zelda couldn't have been happier about. She didn't have to acknowledge the fact that today was the real deal and different from all of the rehearsal sessions.

The platform began to move down towards the stage, and Zelda let go of the railing as she let herself get lost in the musical and her role. The harsh lighting coming from the front of the stage would have kept her from looking out towards the audience too much, but as Zelda moved through her lines, she found that they were not needed at all. Even if she had been able to search for her family in the crowd, she would not have done it as she was too busy making sure that the show went well. And somewhere in the middle of the first act, that feeling of having to make everything perfect slowly began to fade as well as she was able to enjoy the fact that she had made it, she had gone to the auditions, she had panicked and been afraid, but she had still made it, and this was a moment to give it all that she had.

It was over far too soon. Zelda barely had time to really process the fact that the musical she had spent the last several weeks both looking forward to and fearing was over and that she had made it all the way through it without any major mistakes before they were all leaving the stage, letting the chatter erupt behind them as they disappeared from view.

Walking behind the stage to get back to the changing room, Zelda didn't even try to keep the smile off her face. She had done it. She had been afraid and nervous, but when it came down to it, she had made it. Throughout the last two years, Zelda had not fully been able to understand what Midna, Anju, and Cremia had been talking about when they would attempt to explain the invigorating thrill of standing up on the stage, but now she could see their point.

So elated that she hardly noticed her surroundings, Zelda collided with the person in front of her.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't see—" she began, taking a step back to regain her balance as the person turned around.

It was Midna.

Still wearing the Hero's tunic, her hair a mess as she had just taken off the hat, and her makeup slightly smudged, Midna could not have looked any more beautiful, at least not to Zelda as they stood there in the dim light.

Zelda opened her mouth to say something—she was not sure exactly what, though, judging from the way she could feel the tips of her ears turn red, it would probably have involved the words 'I love you'—but before she had a chance to do so, Midna had already picked her up, spinning her around once before she placed Zelda back down again.

"You were amazing!" Midna yelled to be heard above the sound of the hundreds of conversations taking place in the gym. "Absolutely amazing!"

Seeing Midna beaming down at her, eyes twinkling was almost enough to render Zelda speechless. But, clearing her throat, Zelda did her best to match Midna's volume "You too! The death scene? Wonderful, I really… I really…" she went quiet; not finishing the sentence as Midna suddenly took a step closer to her.

Nayru… Zelda's mind went blank, and in that moment, the rest of the world might as well have stopped existing around them.

"Zelda…" there was something new in Midna's voice, something hesitant that Zelda wasn't used to.

"Yes?" Zelda did her best to maintain eye contact, to let Midna know that she could finish the question.

"If I…" Midna paused and when the words returned, Midna spoke much faster, like she was afraid she would not be able to continue if she stopped again, "if I kissed you right now, how would you react?"

Had it not been for the fact that Zelda could hear her heartbeat, the sound of it quickening with every second, she would have assumed that her heart had stopped working. It should not have been able to make it through that question.

Time both slowed down and sped up around them as Zelda looked up at Midna's face, trying to search for any evidence that it had been meant as a joke. After all, it had to be, Midna was Midna and Zelda was, well, Zelda.

But she didn't find the usual teasing glint in Midna's eyes that accompanied her jokes. Instead, Zelda saw her friend look at her, dimples prominent as Midna smiled, the smile not faltering even as Zelda could see a look of uncertainty appear in Midna's eyes.

It could not be real, she had to have missed something, but even though Zelda searched for a reason to believe that it was just friendly teasing, she saw none.

"I would react like this." reaching up to place her hands on Midna's shoulders to support herself, Zelda got up on her toes.

She heard a sound of surprise from Midna, but then Midna bended down, and before Zelda's endorphin-filled brain had time to catch up, her heart had already realised that she was kissing Midna—Midna, her best friend—and that Midna was kissing her as well, having wrapped her arms around Zelda's waist to pull her closer.

It was in that moment it became crystal clear to Zelda that time was passing by at an increasing rate rather than slowing down, for it hardly felt like the kiss had lasted more than a second before she heard footsteps approaching and Midna let go off her, taking a step back before looking in the direction of the sounds.

It turned out to be a first-year student, the almost total lack of light making it difficult for Zelda to tell exactly who she was, though she was visibly about to combust with joy as she made her way past them, yelling something about how it had been 'totally awesome' as she passed them.

Zelda did her best to return the sentiment, but the words came out as a jumble of syllables and half-finished sounds, her brain still trying to work through what had just happened. The girl, however, didn't seem to care, having already left them behind her, leaving Zelda and Midna alone again.

They spoke at the same time, Midna letting out a small chuckle at it, while Zelda gestured towards her to show that she could go first.

"I…" seeing Midna completely at a loss for words and averting her gaze to instead stare down at the wooden flooring was not something Zelda would have expected, and she reached out to take her hand. The contact between them made Midna look up from the floor. "I don't know what to say. How long…?"

"I am not sure," Zelda admitted, the sensation in her stomach confirming her words. It could have been years for all she knew, though she had only discovered her feelings for Midna after Anju had broached the subject, "I have known for a few weeks now, but, looking back…I think I have felt this way for a long time."

The way Midna's face lit up, the corners of her mouth being pulled up, the dimples appearing yet again, all as a result of what she had said felt even better than standing up on the stage and know that she had made it through the musical.

"So have I," Midna said, "but I didn't dare to hope that you would feel the same way about me as well—I didn't want to make a move and risk damaging our friendship."

Hearing Midna express the exact same doubts that Zelda had struggled with just a few minutes ago was worse than when she had had to hold Midna while acting out the Hero's death scene.

"Of course I did," Zelda whispered, leaning in closer to ensure that Midna was able to hear her over the noise from the gym, "why wouldn't I?"

"Funny thing is that that is almost exactly what Anju told me."

Zelda looked up at Midna, knitting her brows. "Wait, did Anju know about…" she gestured vaguely towards the few millimetres of empty space between the two of them, "this?"

"Yes, she has known for ages—or, well, at least she has known since the start of this school year." Midna let out a laugh before she noticed the look in Zelda's eyes. "Why did you ask?"

"She knew that I was in love with you as well."

"She did?" Midna repeated, now mirroring Zelda's expression. "Huh. I wonder why she didn't say anything to any of us."

"I asked her not to say anything," Zelda said slowly, only now realising how much sooner she and Midna could have ended up confessing to each other if she had just acted differently back then, had a little more courage, "I told her not to tell anyone."

"Yeah, I did the same thing. Though, I must admit that I did actually somewhat expect her to tell you," Midna's facial expression turned soft again as she slowly moved her thumb over the back of Zelda's hand in a circular pattern, "that was also part of the reason why I waited for so long before I told you—I thought that you already knew and had decided not to bring it up to avoid making things awkward."

"Guess we should not have asked that of her," Zelda laughed.

"No, I guess we shouldn't."

Midna pulled her in for yet another kiss, once again making Zelda's brain have to take a moment to realise that, over the course of the last couple of minutes, she had kissed Midna not once, but twice.

They stood there in the corner of the gym, hidden from sight both by the wall separating them from the crowd on the other side as well as the darkness around them. As much as Zelda could still feel the lingering doubt about whether or not it was real or an overly realistic dream—not only had the musical ended up being great, but now she was also kissing Midna, having just confessed with Midna having returned the feelings, it was all too good to believe that it was really possible—but as she had to tilt her head upwards to make up for the fact that Midna was a good fifteen centimetres taller than her and wearing boots as well, she could not have cared less. The important thing was the present, and right now, the presented consisted only of the two of them.

At least it did until they heard the sound of someone coughing loudly behind them and spun around to see who had just spotted them.

It was Anju and Cremia.

Zelda didn't have to ask to know that they had indeed seen the kiss, not with the way Anju lifted her left eyebrow at her and the way that Cremia was looking over at Midna, then at Zelda, and then back over at Midna again, her mouth moving and not a word coming out, like she was trying to summarise what had just happened to herself. Both of them were wearing their normal clothes again, making Zelda wonder if she had completely lost track of time while kissing Midna, or if they had just been quick to get back into their own clothes again.

Although the silence between them lasted for just long enough for the tips of Zelda's ears to start turning red again along with her cheeks, it could have been a lot worse. If anyone other than Anju and Cremia had been the one to find them like this, Zelda was honestly not sure what she would have done, though curling up on the floor as she tried to summon the strength to face the world again would be a solid guess, but Anju and Cremia were her friends, and although Zelda would have preferred it if they could have waited just a few minutes more before interrupting her and Midna, it was better than the alternatives.

Besides, the way that Midna didn't step away from her, still having one arm slung around Zelda's waist was enough for Zelda to stay calm as well.

"Zelda, your parents asked me to tell you that they were looking for you," Anju said, breaking the silence.

The way that Anju did not spare a single word on commenting on the way she had found them came as a surprise, though a welcome one as well, since Zelda now at least knew that her parents were looking for her. If it had been her parents who had found her and Midna like this, Zelda was sure that she might just have died from embarrassment.

Still, she felt like she at least had to say something to acknowledge the situation, so she gestured towards herself and Midna. "Uh, about this—"

Anju held up a hand to silence her. "Cremia and I didn't see anything, but once we get back to our dorms later, we are going to ask the two of you if you have finally confessed you feelings for each other. Is that okay?"

"It's perfect. Thank you," Zelda answered. Some time to collect her thoughts and figure out how to tell Anju and Cremia, as well as how to walk out to have a normal conversation with her family after this—Zelda could not have been happier for Anju's offer to at least let one of those two things wait a while.

"You're welcome. But both of you might want to spend a little extra time removing your makeup—it looks kind of smeared." Anju pointed towards her lips, sending one last glance over at Zelda before she turned around and began to walk back in the direction she had arrived from, Cremia following right beside her. Zelda could barely make out the sound of the conversation between the two as Anju no doubt attempted to remember everything that had happened over the last couple of weeks to make sure that Cremia was aware of the situation as well.

"So…" Zelda began.

"We should probably go say hi to your parents."

"Yes… I would love to stay here a little while longer though."

Midna pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. "So would I. But let's get changed so that we can get you over to your family."

Zelda tried to think of a reason they could give her parents about why she and Midna had disappeared from the gym without them noticing and without Zelda's family being able to find them anywhere on the school, but she had to admit that there was so explanation for that, at least not one that would not also include the truth behind their smeared lipstick.

"Okay, let's get going then," Zelda said, following along with Midna as they went over to the almost deserted changing room.

Back in her old clothes, the makeup gone, and with the familiar weight of the necklace present around her neck once more, the prospect of facing her family began to seem less daunting to Zelda. There was absolutely nothing about her and Midna that would give away the fact that their relationship had gone from a completely platonic friendship and to the muddled, uncertain something it was now.

Tetra was the first to spot them as Zelda and Midna made their way through the gym, pointing over towards them to get her parents' attention.

"Zelda," Impa exclaimed, having already pulled Zelda in for a hug, completely missing how Midna attempted to greet her with a smile, "it's so good to see you."

She didn't have to answer; her mum already knew that Zelda was also happy to see her even if the option of staying behind the scene with Midna still seemed tempting.

It was lucky that the still slightly dimmed lightning in the gym as well as the general pushing and noise of the people around them kept Impa from inspecting Zelda's face and ears too close, for Zelda was sure that both of them had to be burning as she fought the immediate instinct to tell her mum everything.

But she prevailed, not saying anything until her mum let go of her again.

"Mum, Midna is actually here as well," Zelda said, pointing towards Midna with her thumb.

"Midna, I didn't even see you, I'm so sorry," Zelda's mum said as she went to shake the hand Midna was extending towards her.

"Don't think about it."

Impa did as Midna said. "I have heard so much about you lately—well, of course Zelda always talks about you a lot." Zelda saw how Midna quickly glanced over at her, raising an eyebrow at Impa's comment, and now, Zelda knew that her ears were burning hot. Luckily, her mum did not seem to notice anything, instead moving on to praise Midna. "You did great in the musical, didn't she, Daphnes?"

"Of course she did. The role of the Hero is usually regarded as a male role though, so I can imagine you had to fight quite a bit to be able to attend the audition," Daphnes said, smiling at the chance to show off the knowledge about musicals he had picked up over the years of listening to Impa talk about her ever-changing favourite musicals. Though, to someone who didn't know her parents, Zelda supposed that Daphnes might actually be able to pass it off as information he had found himself.

"No, it wasn't that bad," Midna said, waving her hand to dismiss the notion, "I just had to ask a few times, and then both Thelma and Kass ended up agreeing that it was only fair if I was given a chance to audition just like the boys. It might also have helped that I spent a good part of last year trying to make them see that Glinda and Elphaba would have ended up together in Wicked if the world was a better place."

"Agreed, they had much more chemistry," Impa said.

Zelda had to repeat the response a couple of times to herself. Her mum had agreed with Midna on the fact that Elphaba and Glinda should have ended up becoming a couple. She wasn't sure why she had never considered the possibility of her mum not agreeing with the way musicals ended. Exactly that subject was what Midna, Anju, and Cremia would sometimes get into lengthy discussion about, so why Zelda had never even given the idea that her mum might also feel the same way about certain musicals a second thought was beyond her.

She stayed silent as Midna and Impa continued their discussions about the different couples from Wicked, soon moving on to try to agree on a favourite cast, and with both her dad and Tetra stating their opinions as well, Zelda had halfway hoped that she could get away with not saying anything.

However, just as she thought that she and Midna could leave, with both Zelda's dad and Tetra turning around to disappear back into the crowd as Tetra spotted one of her friends standing in the corner of the gym, Impa gestured for Zelda to come with her as she stepped a bit away from the rest of the group. Not sure where it was going, Zelda sent Midna an apologetic look before she followed along with her mum.

"Zelda," Impa began as soon as the distance between the two of them and Midna was enough so that the general chatter in the room would prevent her from hearing their conversation, "I wanted to talk with you about what you said when you called me three weeks ago."

That was enough for Zelda to know exactly how the conversation would go. If only her mum had been a little more vague, Zelda could have pretended to not know exactly which phone call she was referring to, but now, it seemed that there was no way for her to avoid the conversation that was about to begin.

"Yes? What did you want to say about it?"

"You asked me how I knew that I was in love with your father." Impa looked at her, and Zelda could see how she waited for her to say something to prove that she remembered what she had said as well.

And of course Zelda remembered it. There was no way that those few weeks that had passed since that moment would ever have been enough to make her forget about why she had called her mum.

"Yes," Zelda said again, "I remember that."

"And do you remember what I asked you?"

The temperature in the room dropped several degrees. How could she have forgotten, with the panic that had followed right after her mum's response?

"Yes," Zelda said, keeping her answer as short as possible to hide how her voice was shaking.

"I'm sorry that I said that."

It was not the response Zelda had been expecting, but it was the one she had secretly allowed herself to hope for a couple of times. As she once again met her mum's glance, Zelda could see how her mum's eyes were shiny with tears.

"What?" the word came out as a whisper, but it didn't matter. It was mostly just Zelda trying to convince herself that it was actually happening.

"It wasn't a boy you were talking about when you called, was it? It was a girl?"

She was grateful that her mum asked so directly. Had it been up to herself, Zelda would probably just have denied that she was even talking about a concrete person, claiming that she was trying to figure out the more philosophical meaning of love.

But since the question could be answered with as little as a single word, a little pool of courage revealed itself to her, allowing Zelda to nod.

"Yes, it was."

Her mum hugged her again, holding Zelda tighter than ever before. "Zelda, I'm so sorry about the comment, I didn't think—"

"No it's fine," Zelda mumbled, already feeling how she was close to tears herself, the only thing keeping her from sitting down and cry being the fact that her mum was still fighting to keep back the tears, "you just assumed, and, statistically ,the guess was the most likely one."

"I know that, but, Zelda, when you ended the call, I already knew that I had made a mistake, and I should have called you back right there, I can see that now. But I didn't—I thought that it would be better if I waited until the moment you told me yourself, but then you started sounding worse and worse each time we would speak—"

"But that was just the musical, mum," Zelda said, already hearing the lie. It had not only been about the musical and nothing but the musical. With the benefit of hindsight, Zelda could see that it had been about so much more than just having to stand on a stage.

And of course she couldn't hide that from her mum either.

"No, it wasn't," Impa whispered to her, "please don't try to lie and say that the musical was the only thing stressing you out during that time."

"I won't," Zelda promised before going silent and just standing there, letting herself act like she was a little girl again and that she had just run to her mum after getting hurt while playing outside.

After a while, Impa let go of her to reach up to wipe away the tears that had formed in the corners of her eyes. "Nayru, here I am, crying, not even an hour after you got down from the stage," she said, a laugh breaking through her tears, "I'm so sorry, this is supposed to be your big day, Sweetie, I'll try my best not to make it more awkward."

"It's really not that bad," Zelda tried to assure her, "and I'm glad that you brought up the subject of that call."

"So am I, Zelda, so am I." Impa whispered the last word, and Zelda was almost completely sure that it was meant more for Impa than for Zelda. Her mum looked back at her, a smile on her face that only seemed partly false. "May I ask if it was a specific girl you were referring to when you asked how to know if you were in love?"

In the corner of her field of vision, Zelda saw Midna. She was still standing where Zelda and Impa had left her, looking over at Zelda, tilting her head slightly to the side as she saw how Zelda looked at her.

Zelda raised her eyebrows, moving her head ever so slightly to motion towards her mum, hoping that Midna would get the message of 'can I tell her?'

The way Midna's lips curled up to form a smile told her that she had understood, just like the little toss of her head told her to go ahead and tell Impa everything.

Well, maybe not everything, but the definitely the short answer to Impa's question. There was no need to tell her about the kiss just yet.

"It was Midna," Zelda answered before realising the possible implications of using the past tense, "and it is still her."

"Midna." her mum echoed before the meaning of the word seemed to fully dawn on her as she turned around to send a not at all subtle glance in Midna's direction. "Are we talking about your Midna?"

"Yes," Midna answered for Zelda, strolling over to join them, "we are talking about me."

"Did you hear—" Impa asked, not getting to finish the sentence before Midna cut in.

"No, I didn't hear all of your conversation, only the part after Zelda mentioned my name." Midna draped an arm around Zelda's waist, and Zelda could see how her mum did not fail to notice the gesture, which was why it felt like a stone weighing a hundred kilos had just been removed from Zelda's stomach when her mum's reaction was to laugh softly.

"I see that you have both had the chance to talk about it then," Impa stated, the laugh still present in her words.

With Midna standing right next to her, able to stand still, even as Zelda leant in closer to her, Zelda felt like she was ready to take on the world as she nodded. "Yes. Well, not exactly, we haven't gone over the details, but," she glanced up at Midna, though she already knew that she would find the exact same look of joy on her face that, if only for a moment, made all of the problems Zelda knew she would still have to face seem so insignificant in the grand scale of things, "maybe we will get a chance to talk about it later."

"Of course we will. I was actually about to ask you if you wanted to go back over to the drama room with the rest of us—Thelma always has another round of praise waiting for after the show, and I don't want you to miss it," Midna said. She was so close, the rest of the room seeming so distant that, had it not been for Zelda's mum standing right there, Zelda would have been certain that they were about to see if the third kiss would be even more magical than the first two.

Maybe that was what Impa was sensing, for she waved at them, already halfway about to leave, most likely to find Daphnes and Tetra. "You two go do that. I'll just find you again later after you have finished being told how good that musical was." Impa blinked at Zelda and disappeared into the crowd.

Her heart felt like it was about to burst with the mixture of joy, glee, and pride as Midna slowly took a step towards the doors to the hallway, her arm still placed protectively around Zelda before looking back at her, no longer appearing as certain as she had done moments before.

"If you don't want to go to the drama room, we don't have to—there are still plenty of episodes of Hyrule Warriors that we haven't seen yet, and I'm sur Anju won't mind if we borrow her computer—"

"Midna," Zelda said, stopping Midna before she got a chance to start rambling, "I would love to be there, especially if you come along as well."

Midna blushed, and for a moment, Zelda had to just marvel at the fact that somehow Midna's cheeks and ears turning red only made her even surer that the feeling in her chest was indeed love.

"Well," Midna said after clearing her throat, "then let's get out of here."

As they began to navigate through the crowd, Midna pulling Zelda even closer to make sure they would not get separated, Zelda knew that she had made the right choice back all those weeks ago when she had decided to audition for a role in the musical. There was no saying what would have happened if she had decided to go through her last year at the school like it was nothing but another year—maybe she would still have ended up here, having just kissed Midna after making the miraculous discovery that her love was reciprocated—but Zelda knew that none of the other possible outcomes could ever have filled her with the same sense of joy that was currently filling every single cell of her body.


End file.
